I AM!!!
Good Morning! For those of you who know me, you know that I get Very Fired up anytime I get to talk about the NAME of God!! I’m talking about His Actual Name, His Personal Name. The name He gives to Moses through a bush on Fire! You see, even God was on Fire when He spoke about His name!! Do you remember this incredible scene? One day Moses is shepherding his father-in-law’s flock in the wilderness and he leads them to Horeb, “The Mountain of God,” and it is there that God meets with him. We remember the story. God is calling Moses to go back to Egypt and lead His people out of slavery. Moses begins to question not only himself, but also who this God is that is speaking to him. Listen to what Moses says in Exodus 3:13-15, and hear God’s answer to him!
Moses asked God, “If 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?’ What should I tell them?” God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you…This is my NAME Forever: This is how I am to be remembered in EVERY Generation.”
This is the Name above every name! There is SO much profound Truth about God in this name, and we could spend many weeks discussing it. To me, this is the most important passage regarding who God is! We should know that with God names are more important than sounds and letters. A name revealed the character, the attributes, and even the plan of a life. So when God tells us that His personal name is “I AM WHO I AM,” what does that reveal to us about God right away? To me, this name declares that HE EXISTS! PERIOD! HE IS! It also reminds me that He is outside time and space. It proclaims loudly that No one can decide who He is or what He will be. Before all else existed, He says, “I AM who I AM!” No one can change or alter that! I love that He leaves it open ended when He simply says “I AM,” because all that we could ever, have ever, or will ever need, HE IS! Jesus will later finish that sentence, at least in part, when He declares the 7 I AM’S in John. You see, every other name of God we know begins right here with this very first one. This name was considered too holy for the Jewish people to utter through sinful lips. At this name every knee will bow and every tongue will give praise to God! When Jesus answered the company of Roman soldiers and temple police with this name they all fell to the ground! At this name lives are forever changed! It is the name of our Living God!!
Now I want us to consider today a couple of fun revelations about how this name can impact us. These thoughts have encouraged me, they excite me, and they envelope me with the POWER of God in my life! One of the things I love about God’s name, “I AM” is that it is RIGHT NOW, In the Present! We have such a tendency to go backwards and live in the past. We mull around in regret and remorse, and yet God is NOT calling us to live there! His name is NOT “I WAS,” it is “I AM.” He is saying, I AM right here, right now. It’s not about who you were; it’s about who He IS right now! The other temptation we face is to live in the future. We allow our thoughts to be consumed by all the “what if’s,” and the worries of tomorrow. We live trying to discern the unknown, and yet God is NOT calling us to live in the future! His name is not “I Will BE.” His name is, “I AM.” He beckons us to live right now, in the present with the Great I AM, who is ALL we need TODAY! Even Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will worry about itself. When God fed the Israelites the manna, He was very purposeful to ONLY give them what they needed for That Day! When Jesus taught us to pray he told us to ask God to give us our DAILY bread. We are also challenged by Paul to “Forget what lies in the past.” You see, we are called to know our God as the Great “I AM,” right where we are TODAY! Even when Jesus is speaking about the past to the Pharisees, He said: “Before Abraham was, I AM.” Something else that grabs me about this, is something my sister and I were discussing over lunch the other day, and that is the fact that whether you are a Christian or not, anytime you introduce yourself to anyone there are two words you always start with. You say, “I AM…” Isn’t that AMAZING! You cannot say WHO YOU are without first declaring WHO GOD IS!! It doesn’t stop there. Think about this, anytime you describe who you are, where you are, how you are, or what you are, you first begin by declaring Who God is! All that we are originates with God Himself. Just like Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” Before any of us are anything, God IS Everything!! I know HE would say to me, “Before Ashley was, I AM.” You see, believer or not, even in the way we describe ourselves, we first Declare His Mighty Name, and then ourselves! Truly, before any of us are, He says, “I AM.” This thought has changed my focus, because anytime I say something about myself, I realize that I am first Proclaiming the name of God! He comes first! Always! This is our God, The Great I AM, Ever PRESENT with us, and ALWAYS Before us!! Let us Praise His Mighty NAME!!!
Scriptures to Meditate on this week:
Exodus 3:13-15, Jeremiah 32:27, Is. 48:12, Matt. 6:34, Phil. 3:13-14, Is. 43:18-19
