I AM That I AM

“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”.  Exodus 3:14

Moses had fled from Egypt and was keeping the flock of sheep which belonged to his father-in-law, Jethro, in the desert of Midian, northeast of Egypt.  An angel of the LORD appeared to him in a burning bush, and God called out to Moses from the bush.  Moses acknowledged the voice, who said for him to remove his shoes for he was standing on holy ground.  God introduced Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Moses hid his face because he was deathly afraid to look upon God.  No doubt Moses’ mother, who had been his nursemaid as he was reared in Pharaoh’s palace, had taught him about the powerful and majestic God of Israel, hence his fear.  God told him that He was aware of the affliction of His people in Egypt and was planning to bring them out of Egypt to a land “flowing with milk and honey”.  Then came likely the most fearful words that Moses had ever heard: he was the one chosen by God to lead the people out of bondage and into the promised land.

Imagine how inadequate that Moses felt.  He asked God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?”  God promised to be with him the whole time, but Moses wanted to know what to say to the people when they asked who gave him this mission.  God answered, “I AM THAT I AM: Thus, shall you say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you.”  However, Moses argued that the people would not listen to him because they would doubt that God had actually appeared to him.  God told him not to worry about that, performing two signs upon him personally, turning his rod into a serpent and then back into a rod and making his hand leprous and then healthy again, assuring him that signs would prove to the people that he had been chosen by God.  Moses came up with another excuse, that he had a speech impediment.  No problem.  Aaron, Moses’ brother could speak for him.  Moses finally determined that he was the man for the job and prepared to set out on what came to be a long journey.

I have been studying the Bible for many years, and it has been made very clear to me that the overall theme of scripture is that God is the sovereign God of the universe.  Sovereign means to be “above or superior to all others; chief; greatest; supreme; and independent of all others” (Webster’s Dictionary).  Folks, particularly children, want to know from where God came.  He didn’t come from anywhere; He has always existed.  This is difficult for us to wrap our finite minds around because we think in terms of a beginning and an end, a cause and an affect, starting and stopping, young and old, birth and death.  The good thing is that we don’t have to understand the eternal existence of God, nor do we have to explain it.  We must take it on faith and believe it.  I don’t have to understand how a combustion engine works to drive my automobile.  I don’t understand all the workings of a computer, but I use one every day.  I don’t understand how God has always existed, but I depend on Him every moment of every day and am extremely grateful for His presence in my life.

The name that God gave Himself when He answered Moses’ question as to what name to give the children of Israel of the One who had sent him, God told him to say, “I AM”.  To better understand this version of God’s name, “I”, of course, is the first-person pronoun which God identifies Himself.  “AM” is the first person singular, present indicative (signifier) of “be”.  “Be” means “to exist”.  Thus, when God identifies Himself as “IAM, THAT I AM”, He is saying, “I AM He that has always existed, am existing now, and will exist forever”.  Once we get a true and deep realization of that fact, we can more fully appreciate God’s sovereignty over His creation.  Once we fully believe that He is sovereign over all, we can more fully accept whatever happens, knowing that God is in complete control, and that nothing happens unless He ordains or allows it.  This is my Father’s world.  Psalm 46 was written as a song expressing Israel’s confidence in God.  Verse 10 states: “Be still and know that I AM God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth”.  There is absolutely no doubt about that!  Every person who has ever lived will acknowledge the sovereignty and holiness of God to His glory.