June 17

“And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites; ‘I AM’ has sent me to you.’ “   —EXODUS 3:14

The most common name of God in the Old Testament is “Jehovah”. It occurs over 6,800 times, and is best defined in the narrative between Moses and God at the burning bush. “What is your name?” Moses asked, and God answered, “I AM WHO I AM”. ‘I am’ is the verb ‘to be’ and consists of four Hebrew consonants: Y H W H. Interjected with vowels, the most common pronunciation is ‘Yahweh’. During the middle ages, that became ‘Jehovah’ in English. The NIV doesn’t use the name Jehovah, but wherever ‘LORD’ appears in capital letters, it is speaking of Jehovah and the name “I AM WHO I AM”.

In the Old Testament, Jehovah compound names are revealed in situations where God has met with people in the midst of crisis. After forty years in the desert, Moses had found himself in a crisis. He had gone from Prince of Egypt to a simple sheep herder, and he questions God. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” God said, “I will be with you.” Then 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 answered, “I AM WHO I AM.” I AM, meaning present tense, in any situation, any crisis, I am totally sufficient. Not the God who threw the stars into the farthest corner of the darkest night, but the God “I AM” is sending you.

“I AM” means that God is inexhaustible, always present, always sufficient and always available. What Moses heard as information has now to become experience, and that’s where many fail to enter into all that God would do in their lives. They remain on the periphery of Christian experience, because they are content with information, but God’s name has to become experiential to become meaningful. On the basis of what Moses heard God say, he obeys God and trusts who He is.

Though we all have circumstances in our lives we wish were different, God’s promise is not to make our lives comfortable or easy, because it is especially in these areas we discover the present tense activity of God. He doesn’t reveal His name as an academic exercise, but as the key to experiencing Him as the ever present “I AM”. Obeying God often involves going out on a limb, but as we do so in obedience, it is God, Himself, who is going to act.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, I love that you answered Moses with “I AM WHO I AM”.  Help me to always remember what that means and apply it in my life.

TO REFLECT UPON: In every task God calls me to do, am I resting in His ability to accomplish it?