El Elyon means God Most High. His power exceeds every political figure who dominates the headlines and every unseen force that works in darkness. Kings govern only within the boundaries He permits, nations rise and fall under His sovereignty, and the spiritual realm is not outside His jurisdiction. No authority rivals Him. No darkness surprises Him. No threat intimidates Him. He watches history unfold with certainty because He is Lord over it.

This is why the names of God matter so deeply. We are doing more than collecting truths about His character. We are discovering places where our hearts can attach to someone tender enough to hold us and powerful enough to rule over what we cannot control. 

El Elyon becomes more than a title when His sovereignty enters the places where our fear has been making predictions about our future. What feels chaotic to me has never once become chaotic to Him. What I cannot untangle is already held inside His wisdom. What frightens me has never frightened Him.

Today, I don’t just want to affirm that God is Most High. I want that truth to move downward into the frightened places of my heart until I actually live differently. I want to quiet my rehearsals of worst-case scenarios, and rest beneath the rule of the One whose throne has never trembled.

Let this name become more than something we know. Let it change the way we know You, God. Amen

God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.   John 3:19  NLT

Jesus announced that He was the Light of the world, yet Scripture says we loved darkness rather than light. Christ was glorious, but we did not find His glory desirable. Light exposed what darkness allowed us to hide, so we turned away from the very One who had come to save us.

Then how does anyone believe? God opens blind eyes to see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” And that call is personal. The voice that created the world becomes intimate enough to speak to one human heart.

In Genesis, His voice broke into chaotic darkness and every dead thing responded and came to life. And one day, in a way just as miraculous, that voice reached me.

No one knows whose name God will speak next. That keeps me praying for people who seem unreachable, resistant, even hostile to Christ. Saul was not inching his way toward faith on the Damascus road; he was traveling in the opposite direction. Then Jesus called his name, and the man who was zealous to oppose Christ was undone by Christ Himself. I know something of that undoing. The longer I stay near Jesus and let His Spirit search me, the less familiar my old self becomes. Sometimes I read my old journals and wince at the woman I used to be. Grace has not merely grazed my flesh. It has dismantled it.  New birth begins with foundations.

So if you sense Christ pressing against the door of your soul, do not treat it casually. Do not assume you will always hear it and have time to respond. Run to Calvary. The One calling your name is calling you out of the tomb into resurrection life.

Lord Jesus, for those who are resisting You, arguing with You, or trying not to hear You, speak with the authority that stopped Saul in his tracks. Call them by name until resistance gives way to surrender. Amen.

God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. John 3:17-18 NLT

The children of Israel knew well that God judges sin. While they had often experienced His mercy, they had also suffered His judgement on their sin. For them to believe that God would send His Son for reasons other than judgement was a stretch. Never could they have imagined that a Messiah would come, not to condemn but to forgive.

Why, at the announcement of salvation, do we often prefer condemnation? We’d rather hate ourselves than let God love us. We’d rather continue in destructive patterns of sin than let Jesus re-arrange our lives. In our stubbornness, we’d rather refuse to give up our anger against a God who wounds but also provides a cure. Let’s admit it ~ we nurse our grudges against His holiness.

I’ll personalize. Let’s say that I go so far as to admit my guilt. I confess it but then wallow around in it for a while, insisting that I don’t deserve to be forgiven. Condemnation feels justified and quite comfortable the longer I wear it. I can even feel powerful as I exert my freedom to shun the Forgiver. Satan is the author of such foolishness and he celebrates when this kind of twisted pleasure keeps God’s creation from the joy of a free and forgiven conscience.

Jesus did not come into the world to judge it as proven by His own death on a cross. He paid for mankind’s sin Himself as if He was the One who committed centuries of atrocities. Oh, to have paid such a price only to see people reject the gift of this expensive pardon. For whatever reason people reject Jesus, it’s a tragic response to the humblest suffering Servant of all.

Does my own self-condemnation keep me from the joy of forgiveness? Break my pride. Amen

For God so loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16

The word ‘so’ makes such an impact when speaking.  Earlier this morning, I was thinking about contrasts like the ones below.

My baby is hungry.  My baby is so hungry.

My friend is happy. My friend is so happy.

She looks thin.  She is so thin. 

I am loved.  I am so loved.  

This little word expands the effect.  It enhances the meaning many times over. 

God so loves.  Not just likes.  Not just loves.  So loves.  

And who is the blessed recipient?  The world.  Sounds so impersonal and that would be concerning were it not for the personalization of God’s specific words to His children.  He speaks to one person at a time.  He has each of us engraved, one at a time, on the palms of His hands.  When he looks down, He does not see a picture of the world.  He sees each of us.  And when He does, He so loves.  

Oh, and it doesn’t end there.  He is so invested.  He is so grieved by sin.  He is so moved by our worship.  He is so nurturing.  He is so protective.  He is so encouraging.  He is so hopeful that our faith will flourish till the end.  

But more than anything ~ He just longs for us to know that the word ‘so’ is true. We have always been so loved.  We are so loved right now.  And we will be so loved forever. 

Forgive me when I’m skeptical.  With You there is no shadow of turning.  Rest, real rest, can be mine right now.  Amen

And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. John 3:14-15

God is holy and must deal with our sin. But God is also merciful and offered His Son to pay for our iniquity. To receive it, we must turn from our sin, repent, and look to Christ to save us. This is the Gospel.

Yet, we refrain from looking to Jesus. History proves it. The last thing the Israelites wanted to do was to look at a brass snake on a pole. Seeing the serpent was a symbol of the curse God brought upon them because of their grumbling. Because of that, only some were willing to look at it – and live. The rest chose to nurse their grudge against God for whatever reason. Perhaps they felt His remedy was preposterous and, in so doing, they chose death over life.

We are asked to behold our Savior on a cross, to look upon the gruesome scene of a crucifixion. Couldn’t there be some other extension of mercy than to have to look to Jesus, beaten and bruised, suffering unspeakable horrors? Only some are willing to look – and live. Most choose to nurse their grudge against God for whatever reason. Perhaps they feel God’s remedy of His only Son is preposterous and, in so doing, choose death over life.

This is ultimately a love story. Bitten by sin, we are cursed and face a death sentence. There is only one remedy and we don’t get to decide how we’ll be saved. The One who does determine how is the Savior who took our curse upon Himself and died in our place. In our place, He was despised and rejected. Oh, but if we look to Him, repent, and cast ourselves upon His mercy, we live.

Jesus, the power of the Gospel washes over my soul today all over again. Amen

But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven.  John 3:12-13 NLT

Jesus’ words to Nicodemus were upsetting.  Not only did he not believe Jesus about tangible things, he rendered himself impotent to hear and understand things intangible, the matters of the kingdom.  What qualified Jesus to speak on the topic of heaven and kingdom matters?  He had come from there!

Consider Isaiah’s words.  Who is able to advise the Spirit of the LORD? Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him?  Isaiah 40:13   

While I would never think of suggesting to God that I should be His advisor, I insinuate that when I argue with Him; when I listen but then walk away and ignore what He said.  My unwillingness to act on the Truth communicates that I know better than He does.  

Jesus’ teachings are difficult and strike my carnal mind as preposterous.  Nicodemus must have felt like his head was spinning as Jesus spoke to him about spiritual births, wombs, and such.  If he came for a hearty spiritual debate, he didn’t get one.  Instead, he left with his heart burning. 

Convicted.  Loved.  Stunned.  Captivated.  Changed.  These are the outcomes of an encounter with Jesus.  And none of them are catalysts for rising up to become a pious advisor to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

I know my place.  I am Your disciple, a spiritual child, a friend.  And, always Your student.  Amen