What’s in a Name?
What does God say His name is and why?
Verse of the Day
‘God replied to Moses, “ I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.”’
Today’s Devotional
This verse is a prime example of me, your writer, feeling completely unqualified to discuss or expound on God’s name. I am not schooled in the languages of the original text, nor do I have cultural context.
But the question remains. Who is God telling us that He is? What is He saying about Himself by answering Moses’ question in a somewhat confusing way? “I Am” is not really a name. Is it?
It is now.
In my search for help, the best explanation I came across was from bibleref.com:
Exodus 3:14 is one of the key verses in the entire Bible. Here, God is speaking to Moses out of a miraculous occurrence: a bush which is on fire, but not burnt up. Moses responded with doubt and questions. One of these questions is fairly simple: what do I say when people ask “what god sent you?” The answer given here is crucial for understanding the identity and nature of God. This response becomes foundational in both Jewish and Christian theology.
God identifies Himself using a phrase which is actually a description, or a statement: “I AM WHO I AM” or simply “I AM.” The first phrase, in Hebrew, is e’heyeh aser’ e’heyeh. This is most simply translated as “I am who I am.” Even in Hebrew, this is a statement which is not merely expressed as a name, or a word, or a description. This is a poetic expression of God’s very nature.
The statement carries a sense of necessity, simplicity, and absolute-ness. In using this particular phrasing, God identifies Himself as the self-existent One—the eternal, unique, uncreated God. God just is. He is the ultimate truth, the only necessary being, the beginning and end, the first cause. The question of who speaks from the burning bush is given an answer which is both simple and profound: “I AM.”
There is a profound mystery to God that we cannot fathom. Yet at the same time, we were created with an insatiable longing to behold this God of mystery. God is telling me today that there is a certainty to His existence that I will never fully comprehend. God just is. If I believe that, then it makes sense to orient my life around Him. Which is likely what Jesus meant by, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else”.
If God’s nature is His eternal presence and existence, then my response today is awe. And in the midst of that awe, there is wonder. Because this uncreated God CHOSE to create you and I in His image and likeness.
Because God is, you exist in His Kingdom today. What does that tell you about who God is?
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
What is God saying to you today about who He is?
How do you understand God when He says, “I Am who I Am”?
Write out a prayer of worship today for who God is to you.