I Am
But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead
the Israelites out of
He answered, "I will be with you; and this shall be your proof that it is I
who have sent you: when you bring my people out of
worship God on this very mountain."
"But," said Moses to God, "when I go to the Israelites and say to them,
`The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' if they ask me, `What is his
name?' what am I to tell them?"
God replied, "I am who am." Then he added, "This is what you shall tell
the Israelites: I AM sent me to you." [Exodus 3:11-14]
Moses asks a simple question of the God who is sending him on an impossible task. “Whom shall I say sent me?” Has anyone else found himself or herself pondering the answer God gives?
“I am who am.” What kind of answer is that? You are the one and true living God and you have no name? Of coarse, I’m not sure what kind of answer would have satisfied me. What name would have described the creator of all things seen and unseen? What description encompassesall that is our God? Perhaps we need to think about why we are posing the question.
Why do we humans need a name for our God? Maybe we want a name so we can define who He is. We want to break this God down so we can understand everything about Him, the same way we have studied everything else in our world. We want to know His strengths and perhaps His weaknesses. We feel a need to categorize, file, and pigeon hole everything in our life and
that includes even the God who made us.
Moses, as well as the people of his time, had another problem. They were also looking for a name to differentiate this God from all the other gods made from the earth and housed in pagan temples. So God in His infinite wisdom told Moses that He is the only God who truly is a God. God said, “I am.” I exist and I have always existed. I Am controls everything the people may attribute to these other gods made of stone and metal.
I Am and they Are Not. Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, all knew me and I want a relationship with you too, but you must first believe that I am.
Humans, though, are a funny bunch. Even when we see something great, we feel a need to
bring it down a bit. We like to put people on pedestals as heroes and pay them homage but after
a little while, we start finding fault with who they are, how they handle their celebrity, or how
they live their lives. Before long, we are denouncing them for ever letting us hold them up as an
example of greatness.
Pope Benedict XVI was just elected and presented to a roaring crowd of
well-wishers. Yet, it didn’t take long for the naysayers to start pointing out this fault and that.
How many faults we find in others, are faults we see in ourselves? How many of the faults and
differences we find with our Pope are really faults and differences we find with our God? After
all, we ask who God is and God can’t even give us a straight answer?
God’s answer seems evasive only because He knows He is not definable. As humans we can
list aspects and qualities of our God given our limited understanding and experience of the
universe, but no description and certainly no one name can describe our creator. It seems we
have our hands full just accepting that He really exists.
Even when Jesus came down as God on earth, performed miracles, healed the sick, and raised the dead, we treated Him predictably.
Hailed as a hero entering
Interestingly enough, through Pilate we asked Him who he was. “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Notice that again God would not allow Himself to be defined in human terms. “It is you who say
I am,” Jesus answered. (Mark 15:2)
Jesus left it right there too. I’m sure the human part of him would have loved to put us down.
To tell us that we have no concept of whom He really is. To remind us that our puny brains and
limited faith cannot even start to take in all of whom He is. Maybe he just loved us too much.
Instead of setting us straight, He let us flounder in our mistaken beliefs of who He is. And we
were sure we knew who He was. He’s just a carpenter’s son. He’s from a little and somewhat
forgettable town. He’s a self made and self-important king and we reject anyone who thinks
He’s greater than us. To prove it, we’ll do away with Him.
But I Am never became I Was. We didn’t destroy Him. We destroyed who we thought He
was. He rose and lived and IS. I Am is His name and that’s all we need know to begin knowing
Him. I Am your father. I Am your creator. I Am your comforter and healer. I Am here and I
will never abandon you. Be still and know that I Am.