I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name ‘the Lord’ I was not known to them.[1]
I am a child of the 70’s and 80’s. And since I was privileged to grow up in a Christian home, I had something of a front row seat to the rise of Contemporary Christian Music. Some of my first favorite artists were Phil Keaggy, Keith Green, and Steve Taylor, as well as the bands Glad and Petra.
One other artist I spent a fair bit of time listening to back then was Amy Grant. And it was on her album Age to Age that I first knowingly encountered one of the unique Names of God. Of course, I had heard some of God’s Names before this. Having grown up in the church, certainly I had heard the Name Yahweh, and probably even Elohim and Adonai. But I never consciously understood that these were Names that God had personally claimed and revealed to humanity, Names which told us something about Who He is.
Then, on that album, I listened to Amy Grant’s version of Michael Card’s song, “El Shaddai.” And this was the first time I remember being consciously aware that this was one of God’s Names.
So I’d like to spend a few minutes today Musing about what this Name, El Shaddai, means.
What Does It Mean?
El Shaddai is one of the most commonly used Names of God; some form of this name is used almost fifty times in the Old Testament. It is also one of the first Names that God specifically revealed to Abram in Genesis.[2]
As I’m sure many of you have already noticed, this is a Name made up of two separate Hebrew words. El, as we Mused about several weeks ago, is the general word for “God.” In its plural form, it is used as the Name Elohim.[3]
Unfortunately the meaning of the Shaddai part is a bit more difficult to pin down, because scholars can’t agree on the exact meaning of this word. It is usually understood to mean “Almighty” or “The All Powerful One,” though it is also sometimes defined as “The All Sufficient One.” In general, the understanding is that this Name “speaks to God’s ultimate power over all. He has all might and all power.”[4]
Implications of the Name
Of course, there is a bit of repetition in the meaning of El Shaddai from the other Names we have already Mused about in this series, especially with Yahweh, which we Mused on last time. If you read that post, you’ll recall that Yahweh encompasses both God’s eternal, uncreated, self-sufficient nature, as well as the intimacy that He chooses to share with His chosen people.
In some ways, El Shaddai covers much of that same territory. As El Shaddai, God reveals Himself to be the Almighty One, the All Sufficient One. He is the God Who is able to do all things, the God Whose power and might are both limitless and irresistible.
Consider, for a moment, the circumstances surrounding the revelation of this Name, which occurs in Genesis 17:1. In Genesis 15, God meets with Abram and makes several significant promises to him, primarily that Abram will be the father of a great nation. But since his wife is barren, they currently have no children. To fix this problem, in chapter 16 we learn that Sarah gives Abram her servant woman, Hagar, so that they can have a child through her.
Thus is Abram’s first child, Ishmael, born, though God quickly makes it clear that Ishmael is not the covenant child He spoke of when He made His promise to Abram. And notice what it says at the end of chapter 16: Now Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.[5]
Then, in the first verse of chapter 17, we are told, When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him. Think about the implications of this. When Abram was about eighty-six years old, God makes a promise to him, that he will have a multitude of descendants. And thirteen years later, Abram is still waiting to see that promise fulfilled!
I don’t know about you, but I start to loose hope and faith if God doesn’t answer my prayers immediately. If a day goes by without a clear answer, my tendency is often to start wondering if God really heard me, if He is ever going to answer. And here sits Abram, after thirteen years of waiting to see this promise fulfilled, long after the time when basic biological realities, like his own age and the age of his wife, would indicate that there is no chance for this promise to come true.
Scripture doesn’t tell us precisely, but I have to imagine Abram was at least beginning to doubt, beginning to wonder if God was actually able to accomplish what He had promised to do. Since, humanly speaking, that promise was now impossible, I can see Abram beginning to rationalize the situation in his mind. Maybe God’s intentions were good, Chances are He intended to make Abram’s descendants into a great nation, but something got in the way. Something had held Him up in fulfilling that promise, and now it is too late. Now, the promise can no longer come true.
And in the midst of Abram’s doubt, God comes to him and reveals Himself to be El Shaddai, the Almighty, All Sufficient God; the God Who can do all things. I have to imagine that God came to Abram at the moment Abram’s faith was about to break, at the moment he was about to give up hope, at the moment when he was tempted to believe that God’s promise had failed.
And in that moment, God reveals Himself to be the God Who can do all things, the God for Whom human weakness and even biological limitations are meaningless. He is the God Who can do everything that He purposes to do, because He is El Shaddai, the Almighty One.
Final Thoughts
As faith based missionaries, my wife and I are often very conscious of how much we rely on God’s provision for our daily needs. The only money we have is what He, through His people, has provided each month for our financial support. And even though we have seen Him faithfully (and occasionally miraculously) provide everything we need for the last thirty years, I can still manage to doubt His continued provision. And I can still manage to be surprised when He, once again, faithfully continues to provide all that we need.
So in some ways, Musing about this Name has been a good reminder for me, and I hope it has been for you as well. We need to always remember that, no matter what our circumstances, no matter how impossible, or even improbable His promises may seem, we serve a God for Whom nothing is impossible.
Because His power is always sufficient. His power is unstoppable.
Because He is God Almighty.
He is El Shaddai.
[1] Scripture quoted by permission. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture verses are quoted from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.
[2] Genesis 17:1 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the Sovereign God. Walk before me and be blameless.”
[3] Unless otherwise noted, all definitions of Greek and Hebrew words taken from Strong’s Greek and Hebrew Dictionary (electronic copy included with The Power Bible CD software).
[4] “What does it mean that God is Almighty?” Got Questions Ministries, 21 January, 2026. https://www.gotquestions.org/God-Almighty.html. Accessed 15 February, 2026.
[5] Genesis 16:16