Creator, Father, King #67

God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.”

ONE DAY, MOSES WAS tending sheep in Midian. His former life as an Egyptian prince was a distant memory, but he certainly must have thought of the enslaved Jews, his ethnic people, quite often.

Suddenly, God spoke to Moses from a burning bush that miraculously wasn’t consumed by the fire. Moses reacted like all of us would have: he recoiled and hid his face, “afraid to look at God” in his overwhelming holiness (Exodus 3:6).

The Lord told Moses that he knew of the terrible oppression that his people, the Israelites, were suffering in Egypt and was calling Moses to be his agent of deliverance. The Israelites had lived in a pagan, polytheistic society for four hundred years, so Moses asked a valid question: “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” (Exodus 3:13).

God’s answer, in Exodus 3:14-15, was marvelous, mysterious, and majestic:

I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you. . . . Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.

What’s It Mean?

I AM.

For thousands of years, Bible scholars have been studying this fascinating name. It’s a deep well full of beautiful truths about God. When God spoke this name, he was trying to teach Moses, Israel—and us!—some incredible, eternal realities about himself.

For the next two days, we are going to meditate on God’s special name of Yahweh, with tomorrow’s devotion exclusively dedicated to what I AM and Yahweh mean. But today, rejoice that there is a God in heaven who graciously reveals himself to us. He is not a God who is aloof or far off. He is holy and highly exalted above us, but he is our heavenly Father, and he wants his children to know who he is and how to worship him. Take comfort in this glorious truth!

Now What?

Ask your parents the meaning of your name and the story behind why they gave it to you.

Did You Know?

Orthodox Jews have long considered the names God, Lord, and Yahweh too sacred to be spoken or written in full, in fear of breaking the third commandment (Exodus 20:7).