The Names of God: The Lord is our Righteousness, God my Victory and the Abiding Presence of God

Why is God’s righteousness important in your spiritual growth journey? Because we need to know who and what we believe in before we can grow. We have to know that we can trust our God.

“In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.” Jeremiah 23:6

JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU, means “The Lord Our Righteousness,” or “God my Righteousness.” God revealed this name to Jeremiah that a “righteous Branch” of David would come, and “Judah shall be saved.” God is Righteous, so we must respond to him in righteousness (Jeremiah 21:5; 23:5-6, 32:30; 33:6; Psalm 129:4).

This name of God comes from the Hebrew “tsidek” meaning, “straight” and or “stiff”. This can also mean balanced, or the correct true weight, something that is right, just and declared innocent. This is where we get the image of justice and law as a balanced scale. God is always accurate and just, he is our righteousness.

Closely related is the name JEHOVAH-NISSI, meaning “The Lord Our Banner,” or “God my Victory.” The Hebrew word “Nissi” means banner, as in battle flag, protective covering and victory. This name was used for God on the battlefield, from a word which means “to glisten,” and “to lift up.” This name was given to Moses when he lifted up his arms, they were winning the battle with the Amalekites.  When he became tired, they started to lose; so Joshua held Moses’ arms up, which meant they became victorious in battle. (Exodus 17:15).

God is our victory and our righteousness! Everything God does and says is right, he is victorious. Even though there is much unrighteousness in the world, he is completely fair and just in all his doings. Eventually he will make everything right and we can rest confidently in him (Romans 8:28; 1 Peter 1:3-12).

Our last name for today is JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH, which means “The Lord is There”, or “The Abiding Presence.” (Psalm 91) The Lord calls us to walk with him daily, to commune with him.

The word “abide” means to stay, not to visit – and why wouldn’t we want to stay with our righteous, victorious God? We see in these names that he is just, holy, our protector and our savior. He grants us righteousness and victory, and then he calls us to live with him, abide with him, be in fellowship with him. What a gift!

Check out an earlier post in this series here.