El Elyon: Most High God

“Blessed be El Elyon, Possessor of heaven and earth…” Genesis 14:19-20

Day One

Last week we talked about Elohim, who is introduced to us in the first chapter of Genesis. The next name after that is found in Genesis 14:18-24, the name El Elyon, the Most High God. It is to Abraham that El Elyon is revealed.

Did you notice that in this name the “El” is doubled? “El” means “god” and the double “el” means that our God is God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the Most High God, the Sovereign Ruler. No one or nothing tops Him! Psalm 103:19 says, “The Lord has established His throne in heaven; His kingdom extends over everything.” (NET) Verses like these relate to God as being in the heavens, not because He is far removed from us by space, but because He is sovereign and above us in terms of power, nature, and wisdom.

The name El Elyon teaches us that our full trust must be placed in Him, never in ourselves, our money, our resources, our friends or family, our strength, or our wisdom. It doesn’t matter what our need is, El Elyon is the only safe place for us to go.

Psalm 91:1-2 says, “He who dwells in the shelter of El Elyon will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!’”

God wants us to understand His “highness” so that we will always trust Him and have a safe place to dwell.

Activity:

Today practice looking up! Spend some time outside lying on your back watching the clouds. Alternatively, you can fly a kite, keeping your eyes to the sky.

Focusing on the “highness” of God means that we get our eyes off of ourselves, each other, and our surroundings…just like looking at the clouds. We can train our spiritual eyes to “dwell” or stay on the highness of God.

As you look up, ponder on and discuss these scriptures about God’s Highness (transcript of scripture compilation from “God’s Sovereignty, musical reflections”)

“How great You are, O Sovereign Lord. There is no one like You. There is no other God. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is Yours, O Lord. And this is Your kingdom. We adore you as the One who is over all things.

Riches and honor come from You alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in Your hand and it is at Your discretion that people are made great and are given strength.

The Lord does whatever pleases Him, throughout all heaven and earth. The Lord brings both death and life. The Lord makes one poor and another rich. He determines the course of world events. He removes kings and sets others on the throne. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars. For all the earth is the Lord’s and He has set the world in order.

All the people of the earth are nothing compared to Him.

He has the power to do as He pleases among the angels in heaven and with those who live on the earth. No one can stop Him or challenge him, saying, what do you mean by doing these things? If God were to take back His Spirit and withdraw His breath, all life would cease and humanity would return to dust.

O Sovereign Lord, I am Your servant. You’ve only begun to show me Your greatness and power. Is there any God on heaven and earth that can perform such great deeds as Yours? All eyes look to You for help.

God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose for them. The Lord Almighty has sworn this oath: It will all happen as I have planned, it will come about according to My purposes.

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. Everything has been created through Him and for Him. He sustains the universe by the mighty power of His hand.

At the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Day Two

Begin today’s lesson by reading Genesis 14:17-24. “

Twice in this passage, El Elyon is called the “Possessor of heaven and earth.” He owns everything! As owner of everything, El Elyon assigns us our “lot” in life. Deuteronomy 32:8 says that “El Elyon gave the nations their inheritance,” and He gave yours too! He decides what parents and siblings we have, what country we are born into, what kind of body and health we have, what personality we have, and more!

Take a moment to talk about what “lot” God has given you. Be sure to include both positive and difficult things in your discussion.

Do you know that when we complain about things in our life, we are actually telling El Elyon we aren’t happy with His choices for us? The Israelites complained too about the lot God had given them. Psalm 78:54-56 says, “He brought them to His holy land…and apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God (El Elyon.)”

The truth is that we have two choices about the life God has given us: we can trust Him and live with joy, or we can complain and distance ourselves from the God who loves us so much. God wants us to know and trust that His choices for our lives are good. All His works are done in faithfulness (Psalm 145:17). Even when He gives us hard things or puts someone in our life that we don’t like very much, we can be sure that God knows what He is doing.

“I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.” Jer 29:11

In Genesis 14, Abraham made a choice to be content with whatever El Elyon had for him. You and I can make that choice too. Every day, we can make a good choice to honor El Elyon by thanking Him for His gifts. Is there anything in your life that you are unhappy with? Can you start thanking El Elyon that His plan is good? Together, thank God for each of those things and confess any anger or rebellion you have held against El Elyon.

Activity:

El Elyon assigns each of us our lot and our inheritance. When we know this, each day becomes very special, like a treasure hunt! Everything He sends our way during the day, even the unpleasant things, hold value and hidden treasures. He has an inheritance for us each and every day!

Today, we are going on a treasure hunt! Talk about how our days can become treasure hunts for God’s gifts to us. (Parents, hide notes in various places around the house or yard, each one giving a clue where the next note is hidden. At the end, place the “treasure” such as a treat, a special outing, etc… There are many variations of this activity so tailor to your liking.)

My hidden notes went like this. At each location, we stopped and thanked Him for the gift mentioned on the note:

“God gave our family 2 beautiful girls! Go to the girl’s room to find the next clue.”
“God has preserved for us His word. Find the next clue in one of your bibles.”
“God has given us a very comfortable couch to sit on! Go find the next clue!”
“God has blessed us with a big backyard with 2 flower beds. Go find the next clue near the flowers.”
“God has given us fine minds to read, study, learn, and work hard. Go find the next clue where we store our books.”
“God has blessed us with enough money to care for our needs and also to help others. Go look in our Giving Jar for the next clue.”
“The computer is a gift from God to learn, connect, organize, and work. Look in the computer bag for the next clue.”
“God blessed us with a great Dad, husband, and leader. Go give Dad a hug for the last clue.”

Day Three

If someone came to you and offered you a gift of bread and fruit juice and someone else came offering you a bag of gold, but you could only choose one of the gifts, which would you pick?

I guess your answer would depend on how hungry you were!

In Genesis 14:17-24 , Abraham chose to have bread and wine with the priest of El Elyon over the bags of riches from the king of Sodom. Abraham didn’t have much of an appetite for the king’s riches. Do you have any ideas why that was?

Abraham determined that he would only have what God gave him and that meant saying “no” to other things. He wouldn’t even take a thread or a sandal strap from someone else!

Because God is Possessor of heaven and earth, Abraham knew that God owns it all. Abraham was content to let God decide what he had, even if it was “only” bread and wine. Abraham shows us what it looks like to let El Elyon be our portion. It will surely mean that we turn down things the world has to offer, maybe “cool” friends or popularity, or fame or money or “stuff.” We too can decide each day to only take what comes from El Elyon.

Matthew…says that we cannot have it both ways. We can only fully love one or the other.

Abraham loved El Elyon, to the exclusion of money and fame and honor given by others. The best time to decide who we will love is before the temptations for other things come. Then, when they come, we can reaffirm our commitment to love and serve El Elyon alone.

Activity:

For today’s activity, have a Tea Party. Consider serving something bitter or sour like pickles and something sweet.Talk about being satisfied with what God gives, knowing He is both good and sovereign, trusting His heart and intentions.

The way to developing a heart that prefers Him to all the riches of the world is to experience Him by supping with Him! Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”

When we dine with Jesus, we are always blessed (see Gen. 14:18-20) We don’t need all the riches of Sodom to be happy; we can be fully “blessed” with a simple meal of bread and juice.

Day Four

Imagine for a moment that God has a mansion, a big, safe place that no one can break into. Imagine inside this place is everything you could ever need. You would never need to leave it! Now imagine God invited you to come live there with Him and to forever be safe and well cared for.

Psalm 91:1-2 says, “He who dwells in the shelter of El Elyon will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust.’”

This verse talks about dwelling in the shelter of God’s sovereignty. When we trust God even when we don’t understand things, we make God our refuge and we will always be safe. It’s sort of like living in God’s mansion. On top of that, this is the key to experience God’s sufficiency! By dwelling under the umbrella of God’s sovereignty, we can be safe and well cared for! (We will talk more about this later when we study El Shaddai.)

We find and dwell in God’s secret place through praising Him and recounting His faithful deeds.“It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to Your name, El Elyon; to declare Your loving kindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night.” Psalm 92:1-2

When we don’t understand what God is doing or when we feel afraid, we especially need to use these practices of praise. A good habit for you to start is to write down the ways God loves you every day. Each day we can pay attention to how He loves and cares for us.

Activity:

Praising God and recounting the ways He loves us is like a flashlight in the dark, illuminating the way for us to find His safe shelter. They remind us that God is sovereign AND good and keeping this always in our hearts is a safe place for us to dwell.

Wait until it gets dark outside, then do a version of hide and seek in the yard with flashlights:

Choose a person to be the safe place (this person does not have a flashlight.) The goal is for everyone to find the safe place while he/she hides around the yard. To find the safe place, each person can shine their light for 2 seconds at a time. Once everyone has gathered at the safe place, discuss how recounting God’s faithfulness is like the flashlight going on, illuminating the way to safe shelter.

Day Five

We’ve talked about making the commitment to be content with the lot El Elyon gives us and about using praise as a way to find Him and about keeping our eyes lifted “up…” We’ve done a lot this week and I’m proud of you!

(Take a moment here to let children recall what they can about El Elyon.)

Today we want to talk about one other response we are to have to El Elyon. Read Genesis 14: 18-20 and tell me what Abraham’s response was to Melchizedek, priest of El Elyon?

When we sup with God, we know that He is sovereign over every aspect of our life, that He is here to bless us, and that He is Possessor of everything… and that frees us to be generous. We freely let go of our resources when we truly understand El Elyon!

II Corinthians 9:8 says, “And God is able to make ALL grace abound to you, so that ALWAYS having ALL sufficiency, in EVERYTHING, you may have an ABUNDANCE for EVERY good deed.” That’s a lot of EVERYTHING! Giving is a natural response to and the summation of knowing El Elyon. We can keep giving and keep pouring out because God Himself is our portion and He has absolutely no limits.

Activity:

As a family, give financially to someone. (Maybe you can work together over a period of time to reach a certain goal.) Some suggestions for giving are:

A needy family in your church
A missionary family or a love offering for your pastor
Sponsoring a child through Compassion or World Vision on an ongoing basis
An overseas project through organizations such as Gospel for Asia or Voice of the Martyrs
Whatever He sends your way!

Honoring and Acknowledging EL Elyon

Honoring God as El Elyon keeps my eyes on His sovereignty and releases my grip on life and my resources. I can absolutely trust His sovereignty and His goodness, which cannot be separated.

This is where you will set one clear goal as a family in keeping with God as El Elyon. Below are two samples.

Sample Goal 1: At dinner time, establish the habit of letting each person recount the ways God showed them His love and faithfulness.

Sample Goal 2: Adopt a missionary family to pray for, exchange letters with, and bless financially.

Our family goal for honoring God as EL Elyon is______

______

We will acknowledge El Elyon in our daily lives by ______

______

To do this, whenever I/we ____(define old behavior) ______we will stop ourselves and “re-do” the scenario, substituting ___(new behavior) ______which is in keeping with the character of El Elyon.

“Because God is El Elyon, I/we will ______

For personal journal: Daily ask “How does my thinking or behavior need to change in keeping with what I learned about El Elyon today?”

Further study:

Ps 50:14-15; Psalm 78:17-18
Chronicles 23:30