El Gadol Gibbor / Great and Mighty God
(prounounced: "ale gah-DOLE ghib-BORE")
El Gadol Yare / Great and Terrifying God
"Ah, Lord YHWH!
Behold, You have created the heavens and the earth
By Your great power and outstretched arm.
There is nothing too wonderful or miraculous for You to do! ...
Great and Mighty God, whose name is YHWH of Hosts,
You are great in counsel and mighty in deed."
~ Jeremiah 32:17-19 (author, amplified)
Behold, You have created the heavens and the earth
By Your great power and outstretched arm.
There is nothing too wonderful or miraculous for You to do! ...
Great and Mighty God, whose name is YHWH of Hosts,
You are great in counsel and mighty in deed."
~ Jeremiah 32:17-19 (author, amplified)
"You shall not be terrified of them, for YHWH your God, the Great and Terrifying God, is among you."
~ Deuteronomy 7:21 (author)
~ Deuteronomy 7:21 (author)
Jeremiah speaks to the Great and Mighty God as the Lord asks Jeremiah to do what seems ludicrously impossible. To paraphrase Jeremiah's response might sound like, "Ah Lord YHWH! I know You can do anything, and You've proven it with things like those plagues in Egypt and the whole Red Sea incident and making Israel a nation. I know Your great counsel and wisdom are not to be questioned. Lord, I really am having a hard time understanding how or why You're going to pull off this one. But I'll heed what You tell me to do."
The Lord replies that He needs Jeremiah to testify to the people with not only the prophet's words but His actions, exactly because the Lord is going to do what seems impossible. And then the Great and Mighty God says some of the most precious words in the Old Testament: "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know."
Jeremiah has been granted a high privilege. When he calls out to the Great and Mighty God he will receive an answer and miracles which Jeremiah cannot even think of.
The context of the story is one when God will also show Himself the Terrifying God. Or, as the King James renders it, "Terrible God." God is about to pour out destruction on Jerusalem worse than even the Holocaust. He gives more than adequate warning and protection for the faithful who heed Him. Those who scoff at the Lord will indeed experience what a Terrifying God He is to anyone who flagrantly and persistently opposes Him.
We approach the days when all inhabitants of the earth will again face the Lord, as either the Terrifying God Who unleashes the wrath He's patiently held back against defiance, or as the Great and Mighty God for Whom no miracle is impossible—for Whom no matter is too small to make it wonderful.
Feedback appreciated! Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Thank you my dear friend for always speaking the truth in love.
ReplyDeleteI echo Denise: thank you for speaking God's Truth so eloquently and succcintly, dear Anne. I pray those with ears to hear will hear, and those who may stumble here will find their ears opened, for the days grow short.
ReplyDeleteGod bless you today.
This, I think, is among my favorite names of God. Glad I read this today!
ReplyDeleteI believe one of the saddest things we do as humans is to shrink God down in order to try to understand Him.
ReplyDeleteStrong and God-breathed words! You light me up, Anne!
Also, I like how you changed followers to members--I've always been uneasy about that word (notice the way I tried to "change it")
:D
~ Wendy
Apparently everyone made that change...followers to members. Or maybe, just maybe something was done internally on Blogger. :D
ReplyDeleteLittle slow here. I'll catch on.
Had to come back for a little laugh at myself!
~ Wendy
Thanks, Denise, for reading the love between the lines.
ReplyDeleteGwen, I'm truly sad sometimes at how closed ears can be. I love my God and want others to know His greatness rather than His terror.
Billy, has it been just one week today since your miracle? Still smiling at seeing the impossible? I'll keep watching for impossible.
Wendy, I hope my trying to understand Him and discovering how much bigger than my understanding He is simply magnifies Him. (Did that make sense?)
And I didn't care for the term "followers" either. Glad Google changed it, though I'm not sure I like the exclusiveness that "members" denotes.
Wendy, it occurred to me that I can change that heading so I did. Thanks for mentioning it.
ReplyDelete