There are some Bible study topics that look beautiful on a chart and immediately make me think, I want to know all of that.
Then I see twenty names, Hebrew pronunciations, Scripture references, meanings, and historical notes, and my brain politely closes the tab. 😂
So we are not doing that.
If you are a woman who wants to understand Scripture more deeply but also has dinner to make, people needing rides, laundry somewhere in the cycle, and fourteen other things happening in your head, this is for you.
We are going to start with just three names of God, and instead of trying to memorize them, we are going to ask one simple question:
What does this name teach me about who God is?
First, What Does “Name” Mean in the Bible?
When we hear the word name, we usually think of a label. Jessica. Sarah. Anna. Something that tells us which person we are talking about.
In the Bible, a name could carry much more weight.
Names often communicated something about a person’s character, identity, reputation, or story. That is especially important when we study the names and titles used for God. Ann Spangler explains that names in the ancient world often revealed something about the nature and character of the person being named, which is why the names of God can help us understand more about who He is.
So when Scripture uses a particular name or title for God, we are not just collecting interesting Hebrew words. We are being shown something about Him.
His character.
His power.
His faithfulness.
His relationship with His people.
That is why this matters.
El Roi: The God Who Sees Me
(el roh-EE)
“She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’” Genesis 16:13
El Roi comes from Genesis 16, and honestly, the setting is what makes this name so beautiful.
Hagar is alone, mistreated, pregnant, and in the wilderness when God meets her there. She responds by calling Him El Roi, “the God who sees me.”
She did not meet God in a peaceful, tidy moment. She met Him in the middle of hurt.
That lands deeply for us because so much of ordinary life can feel invisible. You can spend all day caring for people, solving problems, remembering what everyone needs, showing up, carrying things no one else notices, and still feel unseen.
El Roi reminds us that God sees the whole story.
He sees the hidden work. He sees the quiet hurt. He sees the prayers you have not found words for yet. He sees the places where no one else really knows what you are carrying.
We may be overlooked by people, but we are never overlooked by God.
Psalm 139:7-12
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Jehovah Jireh: The Lord Will Provide
(juh-HOH-vuh JYE-ruh)
Jehovah Jireh comes from Genesis 22, when Abraham is asked to offer Isaac, the son God had promised him.
“Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” v. 13-14
At the last moment, God provides a ram for the sacrifice.
Abraham names the place in the hebrew as Jehovah Jireh, meaning the Lord will provide.
We often hear this name used when talking about finances, jobs, groceries, or practical needs, and God absolutely cares about those things. But the story in Genesis gives us something even richer.
God provides the sacrifice. And that points us forward to Jesus. The God who provided the ram for Abraham ultimately provided His Son for us.
So when I think about Jehovah Jireh, I do not only want to think, God will give me what I need. I want to remember that His greatest provision has already come.
Jesus.
“Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives set you free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2
Jehovah Shalom: The Lord Is Peace
(juh-HOH-vuh shah-LOHM)
Jehovah Shalom comes from Judges 6, when Gideon is afraid, overwhelmed, and living under the threat of Israel’s enemies.
After encountering God, Gideon builds an altar and calls it The Lord Is Peace, in hebrew as Jehovah Shalom.
23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
What I love about this story is that Gideon’s circumstances were not suddenly easy. The battle was still ahead of him. God met him with peace before everything was resolved.
That is important because sometimes we think peace will come when the hard conversation is over, when the child is okay, when the answer comes, when the schedule settles down, or when the thing we are afraid of finally works itself out.
But biblical peace is deeper than calm circumstances.
It is the steadiness that comes from knowing who is with you in the middle of them.
Start With One
Please do not close this post thinking you need to make flashcards. The names of God were never meant to become Bible trivia.
They invite us to know Him.
Maybe today you need El Roi because you feel unseen. Maybe you need Jehovah Jireh because you are worried about what comes next. Maybe you need Jehovah Shalom because your circumstances are anything but peaceful.
Choose one.
Read the passage where that name appears. Pay attention to what is happening in the story and what God reveals about Himself there. Then carry that truth with you through the rest of your day.
You can come back for another name later.
Going deeper does not always mean learning more information at once. Sometimes it means slowing down long enough for one truth about God to move from the page into the way we actually live.
That is exactly what I want The Study Room to be: a place where we understand our Bibles a little better, know the God of Scripture a little more deeply, and keep finding that all of this study leads us back to Jesus.
Sources & Further Study
This post was developed through personal Bible study and research using Scripture and the following resources:
Rose Publishing. Rose Handbook of Bible Charts, Maps, and Timelines. Rose Publishing, 2024. The handbook includes more than 250 charts and maps and covers over 80 biblical topics, including a section on the names of God.
Spangler, Ann. Praying the Names of God. Zondervan, 2004. This 26 week devotional study explores the primary names and titles of God and what they reveal about His character and nature.
HER VIEW OF HIS GRACE 
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