I AM

I just purchased "Great I Am" by New Life Worship on iTunes. It's a great praise song and when I woke up with it stuck in my head this morning, I knew it was time to invest in having it for myself.

In my contemplating of the phrase I Am in the shower this morning, my mind, naturally, went back to the origin of said phrase. In Exodus 3, Moses is looking into a burning bush and hearing the voice of God telling him to go back to Egypt and demand that Pharaoh let God's people go. When Moses asks what he should tell the Israelites when they ask the name of the God that sent him, God replies, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

What the heck does that mean?

I don't know what scholars say about this. I haven't studied it. But here's what I thought in the shower: I am implies two things simultaneously: mystery and certainty.

The mystery of God. I am... what? You are what, God? Are you going to finish your sentence? Hellooooo?

Nope. He's not going to finish his sentence. That's all there is to it. We're not supposed to know all that God is. If we did, we would be God. There are certain things we know about God. We know that he loves us and forgives us. We know that he created us. We know that he is good. We know these things because they're in the Bible and because he has demonstrated them to us. But there's more to him. There's a vastness beyond our comprehension. Yes, we know he loves us, but how much does he love us? Can we even wrap our minds around it? He even demonstrates this mystery through nature. Recently, I learned about "dark matter." It's this stuff in space, and we don't know what it is because it doesn't light up, nor is anything shining light on it for us to see. The only reason scientists know it's there is because of its gravity: it keeps stars "held" into the galaxy rather than those stars being flung into space for lack of gravity that is accounted for. I haven't studied up on dark energy, but apparently it makes up 70% of the universe. What?? 25% of the universe is dark matter. That leaves us in the 5% range of the "normal matter." Scientists have learned a lot, but there is still so much mystery. Don't you think God keeps that to himself for a reason? Don't you think he wants to remain mysterious for a reason?  It's a beautiful thing.

The certainty of God. I am. That's it. Trust it. It's not "I might be," "I sometimes am," or "I like to be."
It's "I am."

Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still and know that I am God." He is love, he is goodness, he is life. He is mercy and grace. He is creator, he is light. He is all these things and a zillion more. He is. Be still, child.

Why doubt? He is. Why worry? He is. Why fear? He is. There's no doubt about it. He is, definitely. Put your trust in that. Build your house on the Rock because it is and will not falter (Matthew 7:24-27).

So, God is the I AM. Works for me.


God bless.