Lester Sumrall’s Insight into El Shaddai- the More than Sufficient One
“He who dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”
Psalm 91: 1
As a Secret Place dwellers, we are to abide under the shadow of the Almighty, or El Shaddai. So, what does that mean? Throughout the Old Testament, the Lord revealed Himself through various names. These names would reveal His heart, character, and our God’s different attributes. He is simply too great and too big for one name to reveal Him fully.
Being in sales, I have trained many sales reps, and I start by explaining that they represent two brands or names. The first is their own, which they can’t run from. They can leave the company, but they will always carry their name with them. Also, being in sales, you quickly learn the power of a name because representing a company with a highly respected and sought-after name opens doors for you. A name represents everything a person or company represents: their values, character, and proven history. It is very difficult to overcome if you develop a bad name, but a good name goes a long way.
In the same way, the Lord seeks to reveal Himself to us through names so that we know that we can trust Him. He has exalted His Name above His Word! You will also see the Lord defends His Name. Lester Sumrall explained regarding names-
“Bible students have long been fascinated by the unique role of names in the Scriptures. Perhaps name have little importance to today’s man on the street, but they great importance to the people living at the time the Bible was written.”
Sumrall referenced a powerful comment made by Robert Young in his Analytical Concordance to the Bible-
“In Scripture, a name s much more than an identifying tag. It denotes the essence and character of a person or thing. Jesus told His disciples, ‘And he shall be hated of all men for my Name’s sale…”
Looking then at El Shaddai, we need to turn to Abraham’s story to better understand what the Lord wants to reveal to us in that Name. Abraham has left his people and country in obedience to the Lord, who has promised him an heir. However, time passed, and Abraham still didn’t see the promise manifested.
“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.’ Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him.”
Genesis 17: 1-3
This divine visitation would be the turning point for Abram and caused him to never doubt the Lord again. Abram stood fully persuaded by what God had promised he would do despite his age and Sarah’s barrenness. In other words, in the natural, it was too late and impossible.
Dr. W. A. Criswell stated regarding El Shaddai-
“Is a further enrichment of the supreme name YAHWEH. ‘El” is the singular form of Elohim, and ‘Shaddai’ is literally ‘sufficient’ or ‘self-sufficient’; therefore, it is rendered ‘Almighty.’ The ‘almightiness’ and ‘self-sufficiency’ of YAHWEH are adequate for Him to deal victoriously and even destructively with His enemies.”
Through this Name, the Lord revealed to Abraham and now seeks to reveal to those Secret Place dwellers that he is fully in control of the situation. Sumrall explained-
“God said there was no reason to feel discouraged and defeated. Abram just needed to remember that El-Shaddai would take care of him. The Almighty God would not let the mission fail.”
As we look around today and everything happening in the world, it is easy to get discouraged and look at the natural world and determine it is too late and impossible. But we need a fresh revelation that He is the Almighty God. The greater our revelation of Him as Almighty, the greater our confidence and faith that He will fulfill His promise.
In Zechariah chapter three, we see a powerful vision that speaks of Christ’s redeeming work. In it, we see Satan up to his tricks-
“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.”
Zechariah 3: 1
Now we know the position of being at the right hand belongs to the Lord God, and Satan seeks to exalt himself again and oppose the Lord God. The Hebrew word used for “Satan” and the Hebrew used for “oppose” is the same, except one is the noun and the other the verb. Satan acts according to his own nature which is to oppose, accuse and condemn.
Satan always loves to capture a person’s ear and persuade them according to the natural order and their circumstances that all hope is lost. He seeks to oppose everything that God is doing and will try to hinder, harass, condemn, confuse, and deceive people if they get their eyes off of Jesus. The enemy is a master of playing with facts to capture a person’s mind. Sumrall explained-
“Satan tries to destroy us from within, you see. He can give us physical trouble, and he can give us much opposition in the work we try to do for the Lord. But the front line for the battleground as far as Satan is concerned is your mind. He know that if he can defeat your thoughts, he’ll defeat your faith.”
In Matthew chapter fourteen, we see the account of Peter walking on water.
“And Peter answered Him and said, ‘Lord if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ So He said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on thee water to go to Jesus. But he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me.’
Matthew 14: 28-30
In obedience to the command of the Master, Peter begins to walk on water, but when the wind stirred up, Peter felt the wind and began to sink. Remember, he was walking on water, so what has the wind got to do with it? But Peter, a fisherman, knew it was not a good thing when you were in a boat that the fight picked up like that. The enemy played with Peter’s mind with a fact that was irrelevant. But the enemy always spins natural facts to capture our minds and get our eyes off Jesus.
Going back to Abram, he faced real issues that in the natural meant he couldn’t have a child. You can only imagine the games Satan was playing with Abram to get him to believe his circumstances over the promise of God. Sumrall explained-
“But God told Abram, ‘I am the Almighty God.’ In other words, He said, ‘Abram, you see a lot of obstacles ahead. You see only the problems. But I’m bigger than any of your problems, and I’ll fulfill My promises to you despite all the problems, if you’ll turn them over to Me.”
If we look at the first verse I quoted from Psalm 91, verse one, we see that we must first gain the revelation that God is the Most High. The enemy always seeks to exalt himself and make himself greater and bigger than he is. But it is critical that we seek the Lord in the Secret Place and that He captures our hearts and our mind. When He does, we come to the abiding under the “shadow” or the covering of the Almighty.
When we are alone, the enemy launches his attacks to discourage us. Sumrall speaking of his life and ministry said-
“So he (Satan) works overtime at feeding doubts into my mind, and I’ve come close to being discouraged many times. But, praise God, the Almighty reminds me that He’s able to take care of whatever trouble I’m facing! He may not show me how He’s going to do it; He doesn’t have to show me. He only reminds me that he is the Almighty God, more powerful than any problem in my life. That’s enough to lift the mist of defeat.”
Under His shadow, we come into a micro-climate filled with His peace and joy where we can stand confident in Him. No matter what is happening all around is irrelevant when we are under His wings. But we must flee to the Secret Place and His covering to be kept on the day of trial.
We must remember that we are weak in and of ourselves. Sumrall explained-
“The Bible does say that we are weak, humanly speaking. Paul admitted that Christians have the treasure of God’s righteousness in ‘earthen vessels’- clay pots that are liable to crack and break altogether. That’s why we must rely on the Holy Spirit to give God’s own power every day. But if we concentrate on our weaknesses, rather than on the might of God, we set a limit on what God can do through us. Satan tried to make Abram believe he could never carry out God’s plan because he was too old, too weak, and too travel-weary. But Abram stood his ground. He believed God. He may have looked weak, but his faith wasn’t weak at all, and his God certainly wasn’t weak. He was on God’s side, and nobody is weak on God’s side.’
Paul wrote about Abraham-
“And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. And being convinced that what he had promised He was able to perform.”
Romans 4: 19-21
Abram did not consider or think about and allow those thoughts to cause him to react in confirmation of those wrong thoughts. We can say no to the enemy by saying no to those thoughts. The key is what we do instead! We must do that when no one is around press into the Secret Place of His Presence.
Sumrall explained-
“What do you do when you face a problem that’s bigger than you can handle? Do you confess your weakness? Or do you confess God’s power? You ought to do both. You ought to let God to be “God Almighty’ in your life.”
Going back to Psalm 91-
“I will SAY of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.”
Psalm 91: 3 (Emphasis added)
What we have in abundance in our hearts will come out of our mouths. If the Word increases in us, it will increase through us and around us. As we become consumed in Him and how great He is, the cares of this life fade. We stop feeding on fears, weaknesses, and impossibilities and feed on His greatness and abilities. Then out of the abundance of our hearts, we begin to say and declare who He is to us, just as the Psalm said.
