“I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty,[a] but by my name the Lord[b] I did not make myself fully known to them.”
Exodus 6:3
When Moses encountered opposition from Pharaoh and was despised by the Israelites, he went to the Lord in prayer. This moment of prayer became an occasion for God to unveil something deeper to Moses about himself and about Moses’ mission. Look at verse 3 of Exodus 6 very closely, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty,[a] but by my name the Lord[b] I did not make myself fully known to them.”
From these verses, it’s clear that there were two possible revelations of God: the Almighty and the Lord. While the patriarchs knew the Almighty (El shaddai), they did not know Him as extensively or intimately as He would reveal Himself to Moses and his generation. They understood God’s power but lacked the personal relationship and deeper revelation that Moses would come to experience. Unfortunately, this limited knowledge wasn’t just for the patriarchs, the Israelites themselves would later be content at the level of just knowing God as the Almighty. David confirmed this for us in his songs when he said “He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel” Psalm 103:7
Today, not much has changed. We still know God primarily as the Almighty, not as the Lord. We often seek Him for things, wanting Him to exert His power and make things happen in our lives, but we neglect to actively cultivate a deeper, personal relationship with Him. However, God seeks men who will look beyond what His hands can offer and instead share the burdens of His heart.
For us, God wants to be more than just the Almighty. He wants us to know Him as a personal, promise-making and promise-keeping God, someone we can trust completely in everything.
Ask yourself sincerely today, if you really know God as the Lord, or merely as the Almighty.
PRAYER
Dear Lord, thank you for your interest in my life, and your desire to have fellowship with a mere mortal like me. Lord, please help me to desire true fellowship with you above anything else in this world.
