Names of God - El Elyon

What are these names all about? I mean, look ... I don't have a lot of names. I have one. So what exactly is all this stuff about "names of God"? Well, the names revealed in Scripture are one of the ways that God reveals Himself to us. They tell us His nature, His character. Anyone who loves God and wants to worship Him would want very much to be familiar with what He has chosen to tell us about Himself.

So take this one, for instance -- El Elyon. Now, if you've been following at all, you already know the name, "El". It is His "generic" name. It is, in fact, more of His title. Elyon is a Hebrew word for "high". According to Strong's, as a title it means "the Supreme" (the highest). That's the sense of it. God Supreme. Oh, okay, see if you recognize this one: "The Most High". That one should ring a bell. Very common in Scripture.

We read, for instance, that Melchizedek was "priest of God Most High" (Gen 14:18). We see that nations are determined by the Most High (Deu 32:8). Do a search of the Psalms and you will find repeated references to the Most High. One that really strikes a chord with me is Psa 21:7 where David writes, "The king trusts in the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved." Why is that so thrilling? Well, the steadfast love of a good woman or the steadfast love of a good parent is as wonderful thing, so imagine the awesome security of the steadfast love of the Most High. Psalm 47 says "The LORD, the Most High, is to be feared ...", a sentiment we don't hear much these days when it comes to God. "Oh, no," we are assured, "He's a God of love. No need for fear." Nice sentiment ... just not biblical. Jeremiah assures us, "Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?" (Lam 3:38). And it was this term, "Most High", that was part of the whole original concept of sin: "I will make myself like the Most High."

I particularly like this title of God. When government and economics and society and even the Church look bad, I have something higher to which to appeal; I have the Most High. David, fleeing from Saul, wrote, "I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me." You see? That's the idea. Remembering God, El Elyon, the Supreme, the Most High, reminds me that He alone is Sovereign, that He alone is Master, that there is none like Him. Circumstances become less significant, less frightening, less troubling. I read stuff about the dangerous rise of Islam in the world or how the government plans to do this or that horrible thing and I don't need to fear because I cry out to God Most High who fulfills His purpose for me. We know that "the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom He will" (Dan 5:21). Resting in the hands of the One who is over all, the one who steadfastly loves me and is Most High -- there is no safer place to be.