The following is an excerpt taken from God’s Names by Sally Michael.
Taken from the preface:
“You have before you a mini-primer on the character of God as revealed by His names. It is meant to be an interactive dialogue between adult and child as you discover God’s character together. It is also intended to serve as a springboard for trusting God in everyday experiences as truth is applied in real life.”
Chapter 2:
Elohim (ĕl ō hēm)
Strong Creator
The Bible shows us, little by little, name by name, who God is. It starts with the very first verse. Can you say the first verse in the Bible? If you said Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” then you are right. The very first book in the Bible tells us one of God’s names. In English, we just say “God,” but the Old Testament was written in the Hebrew language. There are many Hebrew words for the name that we call “God” in English. In Genesis 1:1, God’s name is Elohim. In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth. Can you say “Elohim”?
“Elohim” means “strong, mighty, powerful Creator.” The very first thing we learn about God in the Bible is that He is the Creator and He made the whole world. Some people don’t believe that God made the world, but the Bible is very clear that God is the Creator.
Let’s try an experiment. Cut up ten small pieces of paper and number them 1–10. Put them in a paper lunch bag. Have your mom or dad help you blow up the bag like a balloon and twist the top. Then shake the bag. Did you shake it well? Now pop the bag by hitting it with your hand—maybe Mom or Dad can help you. Did it make a big BANG?
Dump out the paper numbers. Are the numbers in a nice straight line? Are they all right-side-up? Are the numbers in order from 1 to 10? How will the numbers get in order? Right, only if someone puts them in order. Order does not happen by itself.
Our world is like that, too. Someone had to create the world and put it in order. The trees didn’t just fall into the ground with the roots going down. Someone had to put the stars in the sky and the mountains on the ground—instead of the other way around. That Someone is God, Elohim, Strong Creator.
Think about the trees. Are the leaves ever on the inside? No, they are always on the outside. Think about 
how flowers grow. Every flower has a stem. The stem has leaves. The petals grow out of the center of the flower. Do petals ever grow out of the ground? No, flowers follow a pattern—stem in the ground, leaves on the stem, petals from the center. Do patterns happen all by themselves? Who made the pattern for flowers? It was God, who is Elohim, Strong Creator.
The name “Elohim” tells us that God is the Creator, and it also tells us that God is a strong, mighty, powerful Creator.
When you made your numbers, you used paper. Did you make the paper? No, you used something that was already made. You didn’t make the paper . . . or the tree the paper was made from…or the sun that made the tree grow…or the seed that grew into a tree. You needed all these things to make your paper numbers.
Who made all the things the world is made from? It had to be Someone strong and mighty and powerful. Elohim, the Strong Creator, made the world and everything in it out of nothing! God just spoke and the world was created by His words. God is Elohim, the Strong Creator. No one helped God. He created the world by Himself. This is what God said about creating the world:
I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself. (Isaiah 44:24)
God did not need any help. He is Elohim, Strong Creator.
How many sandwiches could you make for your family? Could you make 10 sandwiches? Could you make 50? Could you make 500? Why couldn’t you make 500? Yes, you would get too tired, and you would run out of bread and other things for your sandwiches.
But God never gets tired, and He never runs out of things. Remember, He is Elohim, strong, mighty, powerful Creator. God didn’t make one bug or 50 bugs or even 500 bugs . . . God made MILLIONS of bugs! We don’t even really know how many bugs God made, because we keep finding bugs we didn’t know about. Only a strong, mighty, powerful Creator could make so many bugs. Only Elohim! Our God, Elohim, never gets stuck—He doesn’t run out of “bug material.” He never runs out of energy. He never runs out of ideas!
We haven’t even discovered all that God has created. Think about beetles. How many different kinds of beetles have you seen? We aren’t even sure how many kinds of beetles there are, because we are still finding more of God’s beetles. Some say 300,000. Others say 350,000. How do you know when man has found all the kinds of beetles? But Elohim knows because He made every single one of them. Don’t you think God must have enjoyed making all those kinds of beetles—each one a beetle, but each one different?
“Elohim” is a very good name for God. He is a strong, mighty, powerful Creator. When we look at God’s creation, our hearts should say, “God, you are great! You are Elohim, Strong Creator.” We should say, like Jeremiah:
Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. (Jeremiah 32:17)
Learning to Trust God
- Read Jeremiah 32:17 again. Ask God to give you a heart like Jeremiah’s that knows nothing is too hard for God.
- Sing a worship song or hymn about the greatness of God.
- Activity: Discover God’s world. Take a hike with your family. Look at the patterns in the world. Try to count the number of different things you find. Remind yourself of Jeremiah 32:17.
Excerpt taken from pages 20-23 of God’s Names by Sally Michael, copyright 2011, P&R Publishing.
Comments