Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale Daily DevotionalSample

El Our venture into the names of God begins here, with a keyword that will open our understanding of God's nature in a way that's truly exponential. It's the Hebrew word El, and the Bible uses it approximately 250 times. In most cases, it's simply translated into English as "God," as we see in the passage above in Genesis. The origins of this word are still somewhat of a mystery. We can't say for certain, but many scholars of ancient languages believe that the original meaning of El has something to do with fear, power, or might. Interestingly enough, El was a commonly used word in biblical times. In fact, one scholar has gone on record as saying that El is the most frequently occurring name for deities in the ancient Middle East. In other words, just about every other culture in that region was using El to identify their gods. So when we come to the name El, we need to understand that it was being attached to a whole host of false deities. Why is that important to know? Because going forward we're going to see the Bible do something spectacular, something that would have really stood out to the Hebrew man or woman in that time. We're going to see that the scriptures take the name El, which was the common name for God, and join it to another word that takes things to a whole different level. It's as if the Lord is telling us, "The name all the people are using for their gods and idols just isn't enough. It can't fully identify Me. I'm so much more than that!" Our God is so much more than anything else in this world, and even His names attest to this truth. Think about it... What does this passage reveal to me about God? What does this passage reveal to me about myself? Based on this, what changes do I need to make? What is my prayer for today? Our venture into the names of God begins here, with a key word which will open our understanding of God's nature in a way that's truly exponential. Think about it... What does this passage reveal to me about God? What does this passage reveal to me about myself? Based on this, what changes do I need to make? What is my prayer for today?