WHAT'S IN A NAME? - PART 2

"And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? what shall I say unto them?  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.  And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is My name for ever, and this is My memorial unto all generations."  (Exodus 3:13-15).

When Moses encountered God on the backside of the wilderness of Sinai, he asked Him what name he should use when the children of Israel asked who had sent him to them.  The name by which God referred to Himself was, in the Hebrew, "hayaw," I AM THAT I AM.  This name has been interpreted in various ways such as "I am what I am," "I will be what I will be," "I am Who am," and "I am He that is."  Regardless of how scholars choose to literally translate God's name, the meaning behind it is clear.  God is!  He has always existed, and He will always be.  He lives in a timeless eternity where hours, minutes, and seconds are irrelevant, and where days and millennia are the same.  Because He has no beginning and no ending, it is enough to know that He is.  Later, we find the introduction of the name "Yahweh," or "Jehovah," which means "the existing One."

The name I AM suggests that God is a God of the present.  He operates in the here and now, "For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."  (2 Corinthians 6:2).  We humans are too often consumed by the past and petrified by the future.  We let past experience dictate present action - or reaction.  We become crippled in life because we can't let go of a slight, a mistreatment, a heartache, or an abuse.  By doing so we think that we are hurting the ones who have harmed us when, in reality, we are only hurting ourselves.  Christ tells us to forgive others: not to excuse their wrong, but to heal our spirit.  We must overcome evil with good, not be overcome by the evil ourselves.  Holding on to the past is one of the surest ways to miss God in the present.  And, contrary to conventional thinking, experience does not equal wisdom; wisdom comes from an intimate relationship with Him Who is wisdom.

Our past also influences our future.  Many folks miss God's leading today because they have experienced failure or ridicule in the past, and are afraid to step out lest they fail again.  They are crippled by the seeming uncertainties of the future.  They allow the "what ifs" to force them into inaction, "If I do this, what if this or that happens?"  Others are so busy making plans and goals for the future that they have trouble hearing from God today because His plans might just interfere with theirs.  Funny isn't it.  We spend so much of our lives in the past and the future that we miss God in the now. 

Jesus shocked and angered the Jews of His time by identifying Himself with the Father when He said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."  (John 8:58)  In this He revealed His timelessness and oneness with God.  He was not bound by the limits of a fleshly body, but was truly without beginning and without end.  He is therefore an ever present help in time of trouble.  Jesus amplified His position as the I AM with seven great I AM revelations - He said I AM the Bread of Life, I AM the Light of the Word, I AM the Door, I AM the Good Shepherd, I AM the Way, the Truth, the Life, I AM the Resurrection & the Life, and I AM the True Vine. (John 6:35; 8:12; 10:9,11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1,5).  Isn't it time that we quit living in the past, fearing the future, and missing the present?  Instead, let's learn to live in victory and harmony in the present with the great I AM!

I AM

I was regretting the past
And fearing the future...
Suddenly my Lord was speaking:
“MY NAME IS I AM.” He paused.

I waited. He continued, “When you live in the past,
With its mistakes and regrets,
It is hard. I am not there.
My name is not I was.
“When you live in the future,
with its problems and fears, it is hard. I am not there.
My name is not I will be.

“When you live in this moment,
It is not hard.
I am here.
My name is I am.”

-Helen Mallicoat

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