Searching for God

Posted On July 3, 2023

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Jeremiah 29:13 NIV

It’s summer vacation time, so I thought we’d have some fun this month! We’ll get back to our Bible study plan soon, but for the first three weeks of July, we’ll do something a little different: Each of these posts will have a puzzle theme, including a printable puzzle you can solve. This week’s puzzle is a word search focusing on the many different names of God.

“Moses said to God, ‘Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is his name?” Then what shall I tell them?’ God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM….'”

Exodus 3:13-14 NIV

Throughout the Bible, God revealed Himself in different ways at different times to His people. In Exodus 3, He introduced Himself to Moses at the burning bush with a name written as “YWHW” in the ancient Hebrew language (which translates to “I AM WHO I AM”). This personal name of God conveys His eternal nature and His active presence in the lives of His people. Adding vowels to YWHW gives the name Yahweh and the Latinized form, Jehovah. In most English Bible translations, this name is written as “LORD” in all capitals.

There are many other ways God is revealed in Scripture. And each new name or description gives us more insight into His character. Here are some of them:

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
the righteous run to it and are protected.”

Proverbs 18:10 CSB

Why so many names? I think it’s because God’s nature is so far beyond our understanding that it’s impossible for us to come up with just one way to adequately describes Him. The names given in the video above, as well as those used in the word search puzzle below, do not form a complete list. If you study Scripture, you can find more. And you can probably come up with some of your own ways to describe God based on what He has done in your life.

The point is to keep searching for Him. As we do, we see Him showing up in all kinds of ways. He is our Provider when our resources are low. He is our Peace when troubles surround us. He is the mighty and powerful God Most High who amazes us with His miracles. But He is also our loving heavenly Father who embraces us with His love. He is our Teacher, Healer, Savior, and Lord. And He is always with us no matter what we face.

Why study the names of God? Because it helps us grow in understanding about His nature and makes us more aware of His presence. Plus, there is great power in His name! (See John 14:13, Acts 4:12, Romans 10:13, and Philippians 2:9-11.)

So, let’s get to it! Here is a list of the names of God in the word search puzzle below, along with their meanings and representative Scripture references:

• ABBA – “Father” (2 Corinthians 6:18)
• ADONAI – “Lord” (Genesis 15:2)
• ALPHA AND OMEGA – “the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:13)
• CHRIST – “the Anointed One,” “the Chosen One” (Matthew 16:16)
• EL ELYON – “Most High” (Deuteronomy 26:19)
• ELOAH – God “mighty, strong, prominent” (Psalm 139:19)
• ELOHIM – God “Creator, Mighty and Strong”; the plural form of Eloah, which accommodates the doctrine of the Trinity (Genesis 17:7)
• EL ROI – “God of Seeing” (Genesis 16:13)
• EL SHADDAI – “God Almighty,” “The Mighty One of Jacob” (Psalm 132:2)
• IMMANUEL – “God with Us” (Isaiah 7:14)
• JEHOVAH – “LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:4)
• LOGOS – “the Word” (John 1:1)
• MESSIAH – “the Anointed One,” “the Chosen One” (John 4:25-26)
• RABBI – “Teacher”, “Master” (John 1:49)
• YAHWEH HESED – “God of Forgiveness” (Nehemiah 9:17)
• YAHWEH JIREH – “The Lord Will Provide” (Genesis 22:14)
• YAHWEH RAPHA – “The Lord Who Heals” (Exodus 15:26)
• YAHWEH ROHI – “The Lord Our Shepherd” (Psalm 23:1)
• YAHWEH SHALOM – “The Lord Our Peace” (Judges 6:24)
• YESHUA – “the Lord Is Salvation” (Luke 1:31)
• YHWH – “LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:4)

NOTE: After a few attempts with various online word search puzzle generators and different puzzle sizes, I finally settled on the version below. I created it using an online puzzle generator I found on a website for elementary school teachers. The site suggests checking over the puzzle after it is created to make sure there are no unintended (and possibly inappropriate) words created from the random extra letters in the puzzle. I admit that I didn’t do this right away — I had already saved it and uploaded it into my blog before I got around to it. I apologize if I missed anything, but when I finally checked it, I only found one extra word. I didn’t put it there, but I get the feeling that it wasn’t really unintended after all. In fact, I think it’s meant to be a message for all of us:

See if you can also find the word HOPE in the word search puzzle below!

(Don’t worry — I’ve also included an answer key in case you get stuck.)

This week’s Scripture passages focus on a few of the names of God listed above. No matter what we face in life, God shows Himself to be the One we need. And as we learn to search for Him all around us, we may just find unexpected hope as well!

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 15:13 NIV

References:

• Most of the names of God and accompanying Scripture references come from https://www.gotquestions.org/names-of-God.html and https://www.scripturalgrace.com/post/30-powerful-hebrew-names-of-god-and-their-meaning-free-printable (Any not found here were found online somewhere, but I didn’t make note of all the websites I used. I just Googled “names of God” and clicked on anything that looked promising!)
• “Names of God” Word Search Puzzle created by me at https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/generator-word-search.html
• “What are the different names of God, and what do they mean? | GotQuestions.org.” YouTube, uploaded by Got Questions Ministries, 7 September 2017, https://youtu.be/EkQ0pzQ5THo.

Images:

• Word Search images created by me using Worksheet Generator on education.com https://www.education.com/worksheet-generator/reading/word-search/