Devo 39
3/27/01
"I AM"
The hut was small and normally held no more than three or four. Tonight over twenty filled the interior, and several more flooded out into the road outside the door. A little light remained from the dying sun, but it was the flickering candlelight inside the hut that illuminated the man standing above all the rest. His clothing was simple; a robe and a pair of old sandals. Under his chin, his hands cupped the top of a wooden staff. His facial features, or what was visible behind the beard, showed him to be of a common ancestry of those around him.
The faces in the crowd were drawn and tired. They had been worked hard that day, but their weariness went much deeper than that. More than one man tenderly examined welts left by cruel whips on their arms and back, and even the face. Most stood with bent backs and stooped shoulders. And all of them would have rather been at home to get what sleep they could before Ra's boat reappeared in the East after its night's journey through the underworld signaling another day of wearisome labor.
When it seemed the crowd had seemed to reach its limit, another man got up to join the stranger. Whispers hissed through the crowd, "Aaron? What has he to do with this man?" The whispers continued a second longer until Aaron raised his hand for silence. "Friends," he said, "you have been called here because you are the elders of our people." The men in the room remained silent waiting for the reason they had been gathered. One man in the corner spoke out, "Who is the stranger?" Aaron looked to the man beside him who raised his head, "I am the brother of Aaron, Moses."
The whispers of before became excited murmurs and it was some moments before Aaron was able to regain silence. "The God of your fathers has heard your cries and has seen what has been done to you at the hands of the Egyptians. 'I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Caananites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.' So declares Him who sent us to you. So says the God of your fathers."
The crowd now openly talked between themselves. "Who is this god he speaks of? Has Ra now taken a liking to his peasant slaves? Is Osiris again waging war against Set." One man of the crowd called attention to himself and addressed Moses and Aaron. "Who is this god that sent you? What is his name?" Moses raised his head and cleared his throat. "I AM has sent me to you." The words came slightly rushed and with a small quiver, but as he continued his voice grew more powerful. "The LORD 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, and this is My memorial to all generations. Children of Israel, this is the one who sent me, I AM WHO I AM."
How must this statement have sounded to the elders gathered around Moses and Aaron that day. After over four hundred years of living in the land of Egypt, and now as slaves in that land, how much do you suppose they remembered the One True God. The Bible doesn't say, but I wonder if the Israelites didn't just add the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to the long list of Egyptian gods. Looking at the vast number of deities in the Egyptian religion, and even ancient religions in general, it is not surprising that the elders would ask 'What is his name." The Egyptians had a god for everything; Osiris, the god of agriculture; Set, the god of the desert; Tefnut, the god of the sky; Hapi, the god of the Nile and flowing waters. And while each god may have had more than one purpose, there was none that could do it all.
I AM THAT I AM
I have also seen this statement translated as "I will be what I will be." At first it sounds like an evasive answer, like God is trying to conceal His name for some mysterious purpose. But think of it from the perspective of an Israelite whose family has lived among the Egyptian gods for several generations. To the Egyptian, to know a god's name would be to also know the god's purpose and function. And that is what makes God's, our God's chosen name so incredible. "I am who I am." "I will be what I will be." "I will not be contained by a name." In the ancient world where every god had a unique name and specific purpose, the God of Israel said in one decisive statement, "I am all that and more." "I am He who brings forth the grain in it's season. I am He causes the sun to rise and set. I am He who set the stars in motion." And most importantly, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
You see, with the remembrance of the forefathers of Israel, the patriarchs, God is reminding them of the solemn covenant He made with this race. A covenant of blessings and favor unparalleled among all the nations. And also with the promise was the hope of a redeemer who would one day reconcile God to man.
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!" Deuteronomy 6:4
Though this statement became the basic statement of faith for the Jews, it is very important to the Christian as well. Even though as Christians in the modern age, we don't have a multitude of gods vying for our worship in the same way the Jews did, we do still tend to compartmentalize the God we have. For one person, God is stern and judgmental, to another He is loving and caring, to yet another He is likened to Santa Clause who dispenses gifts based on merit. But rarely do these views ever merge into one comprehensive view of God. (I realize I'm treading close to pantheism here (belief that god is all and all is god) but bear with me, that's not where I'm going.) I think a lot of disappointment, or even anger, we as Christians can feel towards God could be avoided if we only realized that God is much bigger than any description we could make of Him. God isn't just a God of plenty, sometimes God's riches come through poverty. God isn't just a God of healing, sometimes a greater good can come through sickness and even death.
The point is this; God will be what He will be and there is nothing we can do to change Him or His methods one bit. But be comforted in this also, as a Christian having pledged your life to His service, God has also made a pledge to you; a pledge to make you prosperous and successful beyond anything we can imagine, if not in this life then in the next. He has promised no less than eternal life in His presence away from all the sin and suffering we experience in the world we live in. And this promise is as unchangeable as God Himself. No matter what we experience in life, if we can say with a clear conscience that we are faithfully serving God, we can know for sure that our treasures are being stored up in heaven.
Though God can appear in many different ways at different times in our lives, it would be a mistake to make this His whole personality. God is God no matter what is going on in our lives. He is not just judgmental, He is not just loving and caring, He is not just concerned with the affairs of one nations. He is who He is. He will be who He will be. "I am who I am."