But when you think about it, have any of us really ever created anything? We merely rearrange and reconstruct materials and ideas that have already existed. Even the atomic elements are discovered (meaning they were already there) or constructed from matter that has already existed, even babies are made through miraculous, biological matter and processes that have existed since humans have always existed. None of us have ever created something from nothing.
So, let's look at this particular name of God: Jehovah-Bore (ye-ho-vaw BAW-RAW)
I really hadn't heard of this name prior to seeing it listed in our Trinity Wives leadership meetings, so I was curious and a bit worried that I wouldn't find information on it. There's really only about one or two passages that I found that seem to explicitly reference this name of God, but it's absolutely essential to understanding the character of the God we worship and how He is so separate and different from us. Let's first look at its meaning.
Jehovah means the self-existent or eternal, the Eternal Lord. Bore (or baw-raw) is a primitive root that basically means to make, create, do, or dispatch absolutely.
So what we have is the self-existent Lord God that creates. But, we have to see that He is entirely different from the kind of creating that we're used to doing ourselves. Instead of being limited to the materials, elements, and ideas that are already in existence, Jehovah-Bore can do something no one else can do: He speaks things into existence that were not there before. He creates and originates things out of nothing (ex nihilo). We see this in the very, very first verse of the Bible, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).
It's a bit mind-bending, isn't it? But here's the other implication of this that's even more mind-bending: God Himself was never created. He created everything, but as for Himself, He has always been in existence. Nothing created Him. He has no origin, and He depends on nothing and no one for His own existence and well-being. John 5:26 tells us that "He has life in Himself." So it is quite remarkable that He who has no origin is the origin of life for all.
So, what does that mean about us? We are the created being of the self-existent, eternal Creator-God, who literally speaks life and matter into being. This means we are utterly and totally dependent on Him, helpless without Him. We cannot take credit for the things we make, the talents we have, the jobs we might excel at, the money in the bank, the children we bear and raise, the beauty we behold in the mirror. It is ultimately nothing more that Jehovah-Bore's grace extended to us as the Chief Maker of all things.
Now, while for many, this news may cause you to lower your head in shame, I would actually argue that this is cause to celebrate. Because we are not the ultimate creators, we don't have to attempt to find our worth in what we do or anything of our own achievement. Our value comes from the One who made us, our origins. I'd like to share a portion of Jen Wilkin's new book, No One Like Him, to explain the freedom this brings:
"What freedom is found in recognizing that only God creates! No longer must we labor
under the delusion of our own self-importance. We need not find our value in people or
possessions- it rests in our origin. We need not look to the success or failure of our pet
projects as validation of our worth. We bear the mark of our Maker. It is not our job
to be original, but to worship the Origin of All things. We are free to explore the limits
of human creativity to the glory of our Creator. We are free to love and cherish others
at great expense without demanding their worship in return."
As a final practice of medication, I'd like you to read a second passage in Scripture that refers to Jehovah-Bore as the self-existent Maker-God: Isaiah 40:12-31. It is good news that we are not self-sufficient, and it is good news that we are not self-sustaining. We do not have to be, for we are the children of the Eternal Creator-God that relies on nothing and no one. Only someone like that is worth drawing strength from.
12 "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand
And marked of the heavens with a span,
Enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
And weighed the mountains in scales
And the hills in a balance?
13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord,
Or what man shows Him his counsel?
14 Whom did He consult,
And who made Him understand?
Who taught Him the path of justice,
And taught Him knowledge,
And showed him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
And are accounted as the dust on the scales;
Behold, He takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
Nor are its beasts enough for a burn offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before Him,
They are accounted by Him as less than nothing and emptiness.
18 To whom then will you liken God,
Or what likeness compare with Him?
19 An idol! A craftsman casts it,
And a goldsmith overlays it with gold
And cast for it silver chains.
20 He who is too impoverish for an offering
Chooses wood that will not rot;
He seeks out a skillful craftsman
To set up an idol that will not move.
21 Do you not know? Do you not hear?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
Who stretches out, the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
23 Who bring princes to nothing,
And makes the rules of the earth as emptiness.
24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
Scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
When He blows on them, and they wither,
And the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25 'To whom then will you compare Me,
That I should be like Him?' says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
Calling them all by name;
By the greatness of His might;
And because He is strong in power,
Not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel,
'My way is hidden from the Lord,
And my right is disregarded by my God'?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
The Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
And to him who has no might He increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
And young men shall fall exhausted;
31 But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles;
They shall run and not be weary;
They shall walk and not faint."
Isaiah 40:12-31
By McKenna Rishmawy
On Campus Small Group Leader
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