The I AM series

Over the past few years, I’ve observed that the world around us has an incorrect view of God. While there are many contributing factors to that, I believe that Christians share some of the blame because I’ve also observed that many Christians have an incorrect view of God. We definitely have an incomplete view of Him.

Why? That’s a loaded question, but the bottom line is that people aren’t reading God’s Word to discover who He is. The American Bible Society’s State of the Bible 2022 report reveals some alarming information. First, only 39% of Americans are engaging with the Bible. This means they read the Bible on their own 3-4 times a year. That’s not a lot. Then, of the Bible-users, only 10% report reading the Bible daily. Lastly, according to the Pew Research Center, 64% of Americans consider themselves a Christian as of 2020. I don’t know about you, but these numbers just don’t add up to me.

I am in no way wanting to shame anyone who doesn’t read the Bible every day, but if we say we love Jesus and believe the Bible, we have got to read and study it to get to know Him on the pages of His Word. It is the best place to learn about the character of God.

We live in an I-centric world. From “you do you” to the iPhone, our world advocates for self being top priority. We are all about self-love, self-care, self-improvement, and self-preservation. None of these things are necessarily wrong, but they should not be the first priority of a Christian.

Let’s examine a passage of scripture from Exodus 3. In this passage, Moses is tending sheep when God calls to him from a burning bush. God reveals himself to Moses and that He is sending him to Pharoah to free the Israelites from slavery. Wow. Their conversation continues in verses 11-12:

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

And it is here that Moses gets it wrong and where we often get it wrong. Moses asked the wrong question. Moses asks, “Who am I?” when he should be looking to God for who He is. And God doesn’t miss it. He just ignores Moses’s question and responds with what Moses needed to hear, that God Almighty, creator of the universe, would be with him. God is in control. We spend so much time trying to find our calling, our place, and our purpose, but the truth is that our individual importance is irrelevant to the story. God knows what He is doing, and our participation is all that counts, not our qualifications.

Let’s continue in verses 13-15:

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

“This is my name forever,
    the name you shall call me
    from generation to generation.”

It was common in their culture to ask how God revealed Himself to them. For example, God revealed Himself to Abraham as the God who provides (Genesis 22:14) and to Hagar as the God who sees (Genesis 16:13). Naturally, Moses would want to know how to answer this question.

God answers: I AM WHO I AM. That is loaded, and I’m going to try to unpack as much as I can.

From my research, I have determined that most scholars agree that the name here is Yahweh (Latin translation is Jehovah). Hebrew leaves out the vowels. Fun, right? Regardless, the name is derived from the Hebrew word meaning “I am.” Now, in English (grammar nerd alert), am is a linking or state of being verb. Often, we want it to link to something else - I am fun, I am a girl, or I am confused. You get it. But in this context it is a state of being verb, showing existence. It can stand alone with nothing after it. I am. It simply points to existence. However, in the text, it carries even heavier meaning. He is revealing in His name that He exists and that He has always and will always be present for His people. He is there. That’s good news for us.

Okay, but who is Yahweh? That is His name, not His title. He is I AM. So let’s take a look at the linking verb now.
I am _______________. or God is _______________. Fill in the blank. People want to fill in the blank with all sorts of inaccurate descriptions based on their own moral code or feelings. That is dangerous. That is why the world is confused about who God is and why they don’t want to turn to Him.

So how do we fill in the blank correctly? A linking verb is akin to an equal sign. You can reverse the saying, and it is still true. However, there is no single word to fit the blank and equal God. David Guzik explains, “The closest we come to an equivalent is to say, ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8; 4:16). Yet that is not exactly an equivalent because you can’t turn it around and say, ‘Love is God.’ God is love, but he is also greater than love.”

So trying to define who God is feels like trying to describe the ocean to an ant or my feelings to a mountain. It just seems impossible. However, if we dig into Scripture and learn about many traits and facets of God, we can start to form a glimpse of who God is. There is a famous saying by Aristotle that “the whole is not the same as the sum of its parts.” I think this is true about God. We can learn about all the traits and qualities and character of God as revealed in the Bible, but we still will not have the full picture.

For now [in this time of imperfection] we see in a mirror dimly [a blurred reflection, a riddle, an enigma], but then [when the time of perfection comes we will see reality] face to face. Now I know in part [just in fragments], but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known [by God].
I Corinthians 13:12 AMP

We can only see pieces of who God is in this life and through His Word. He knows us fully, but we can only know Him in part. But my aim is to know every part of Him that I possibly can until I meet Him face to face.

I am going to start a series of blog posts through the year 2023 devoted to digging into who God is. It will appropriately be called the I AM series. I hope you will join me on this journey to learn about who God is. It may mean throwing out our misconceptions or false teachings about God. The first priority of a Christian is to know and love God and then to make him known to the world around us (Mark 12:30-31). Let’s do this! I invite you to share this with others, too.

At the end of each I AM series post, I will have a prayer. I encourage you to pray this prayer sincerely. Let this be the cry of our hearts.

Yahweh, I want to know You. You are good, yet the world does not understand. I admit that sometimes I do not either. Reveal yourself to me in Your Word. Draw me each day to read the Bible and to look for You as I do. Show me any misconceptions or wrong ideas I have about You and replace them with truth. Teach me how to love, live for, worship, and learn about You. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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