Tell Them “I Am Who I Am”

Tell Them “I Am Who I Am”

Exodus 3: 13&14

13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

   Last week, I wrote about Moses meeting with God for the first time.  God identified Himself to Moses by saying He was, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” After that, Moses knew Who God was.  God told Moses He had heard their cries and seen their suffering and was sending Moses to tell Pharaoh to let his people go.  Moses asked a couple of questions, one of which was, “if the people ask me what is Your name, what do I say to them?”  God answered and gave Moses the famous saying, “I Am Who I Am.”  But a simple word study reveals that God was saying more than just that bland statement.  I think the closest we can get to what He said in our language is, “I Am Who I Am and What I Am, and I Will Be What I Will Be.” 

   We need to remember that God never said I WAS the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.  God is not the God the past nor is he the God of the dead.  He is the God of today and the God of right now and the God of life.  He is “I Am”, not “I Was.”  There is a blessing for us in remembering how God has blessed us in the past.  But beware, history is full of stories of people who did one thing in their lives and never succeeded at anything else.  They lived on that one accomplishment and never risked anything else in their lives.  You shouldn’t try to live on a memory - live today and don’t hide out in your rocking chair.  God is the same God Who blessed you and He has not run short of His supply of “god.”     

  “I AM WHO I AM.”  God is Sovereign and He is Who He is and we do not have a vote.  God makes the standards and He is the only One Who can reach those standards.  We often “demote” God in our minds making Him less than what He is.  Our doubts cloud our thoughts and we lack the understanding of what God has done for us that is just waiting for us to take hold of so we think God is not “god” enough to meet our needs.  This is our failing, not God’s; He is still God All-Mighty, the Maker of Heaven and earth.  He IS “god” enough to meet all your needs.  We read of God in the Bible and He is still the same God today He always has been.  He will still be God tonight and will still be the same God tomorrow and next week and next month and next year.  Our perspective changes but He does not. 

   “And I will be What I will be.”  God chose us and is our Father.  He adopted us into His family.  He chose to send Jesus to live and take our sins and then die for us.  He then raised Jesus back to life and seated Him at the right hand of the throne.  He chose to do all this for us while we were still sinners. 

   I have heard countless sermons and lessons and this mystery perplexes many people.  I don’t know why God chose us and sacrificed His Son for us, except to say He loved us so much He went to these incredible lengths to redeem us.  His love is beyond my understanding and I can only accept it and be grateful.  He is Who He will be and He will never leave us and never disown us and never throw us aside.  The only limits on Who God is in our lives are the limits our doubts and unbelief put there.

   Our job is clear:  take this Good news to all the world.  There is a lost and hurting world just waiting for Christians to tell them Who God is.  And when they ask you Who sent you, say to them, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Stephen Cram                            January 20, 2013                Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8