WHAT'S IN A NAME? (PART TWO)

"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 I 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 in order 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 the One 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.  His time on earth was just a pilgrimage: abiding for a time in a “tent” of flesh and blood until His Father’s purpose was fulfilled and He could sit down at His right hand.  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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SIMON OF CYRENE

“AND AS THEY led Him [Jesus] away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.” (Luke 23:26).   Three of the Gospels in the New Testament mention a man by the name of Simon in connection with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  He is only mentioned once in each of the accounts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as told by St. Matthew, St. Mark and St. Luke.  There is much that we can learn, however, from the scant details of his story.   Scripture tells us that Simon was from the city of Cyrene which is in present-day Libya.  Cyrene was at least 850 miles from Jerusalem – a very long trip for folks in Jesus’ time.  During this period, there was a strong Jewish community in Cyrene of about 100,000 or more.  Simon may have been a member of this community and made the long trip to Jerusalem for the Jews’ yearly Feast of Passover.  If so, this woul...
Read more

O, SING UNTO THE LORD!

“ Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.   Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.   Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name .  For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” (Psalm 100).   My wife, Terry, and I were both saved in 1971.   It was toward the end of the “hippie” era, and we considered ourselves part of that counter culture.   We were part of a rock and roll band along with a few of our friends.   We did covers of songs by many popular rock bands of the time.   We were involved with all of the experimentation and excess that went along with that culture.   We experienced much of the angst associated with the civil unrest, racial tensi...
Read more

THE PRISONER OF THE LORD

It could well be said that the apostle Paul knew the inside of a prison very well.  Commentators generally agree that he spent two years in a prison in Ceasarea between 58 - 60 AD, was imprisoned in Rome between 61 - 63 AD, spent time in a maritime dungeon in 68 AD, and was jailed in Rome again that same year.  He also saw the inside of a Philippian jail.  Altogether, Paul spent seven years of his life in prisons.  Rather than being bitter about his lot, he instead seemed to take pride in being the "prisoner of the Lord."  He firmly believed that, whatever his lot, God had a plan and a purpose for everything that came into his life as a Christian.  In Romans 8:28, he acknowledges that, "…all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose."   Paul expanded on the theme of God's providence in all things in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians when he wrote, "Blessed be God, even the Father of ou...
Read more