The Names of God: The Lord Our Peace, God of My Life and Strength

We are now at a name for God that gives us contentment, JEHOVAH-SHALOM, which means, “The Lord Our Peace,” or “God my Peace”. “Shalom,” the quintessential greeting of Jews is translated “peace” 170 times, and it means “whole, finished, fulfilled or perfected” and is related to our concepts of “being well, and welfare.”

This name of God comes to us when God called Gideon in Judges 6.

Gideon responded to the call by making a sacrifice to the LORD and risking the anger of his town and family by tearing down the false altar to Baal, a pagan god. Gideon needed much reassurance from God throughout his transformation from timid farmer to mighty warrior, but he was obedient to God’s call and eventually was used in a powerful way to save Israel.

Perhaps God’s name, “The Lord is Peace” gave Gideon comfort despite the great tasks before him: “Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.” Judges 6:22-24

As we see in Gideon’s story, through dependence on the Lord and reliance upon God’s name, we can know his peace and success.

We are also given peace when we realize that God is strong. The name EL MAUZI means “God Of My Strength.” God desires to make us strong and allow us to persevere through adversity. When we realize that we are weak, we accept his strength, and he grants us joy and peace as we do so. (Psalm 81:1; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

Finally, as we discuss these names of peace and strength, we have EL CHAIYAI, meaning “The God Of My Life”. God is the source of all life. He gives life, takes life, including eternal life, because it is his. The peace of Shalom means that kind of peace that results from being a whole person in right relationship to God and to others around us, so it is fitting to end on the theme of “life” – without Christ, we cannot have a full life! Jesus said “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

Shalom is a powerful conviction, motivation and blessing. Jesus, the God of my Life, is residing in us now, so let’s show him to a world that desperately needs his Shalom, as we all do.

He is our Peace, our Strength, our Life: JEHOVAH-SHALOM, EL MAUZI and EL CHAIYAI. How can you reveal these attributes of God to the world today, and how do these names encourage you?

Check out an earlier post in this series here.