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Jehovah, I Am
Because I said so
“Because I said so.” Oh my goodness, I couldn’t begin to count the number of times my mother responded with those four words when I dared question her. In my own home, my husband has echoed much the same to our children, but from his point of view, “Because she is your mother.”
Like one of my children, I too was not shy of asking questions of my parents. Every day I still question many things and search for answers. Much of them are now from the Lord and His Word.
I’ll admit to spitting out a negative tone from my heart with the why’s battling against Mom’s good intentions, but today these questions come by God’s grace and from a maturing, devoted heart to the Lord. It is a good thing.
Moses had a lot of question for the Lord, too.
Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed. So Moses thought, “I must go over and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?”
When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!”
“Here I am,” he answered.
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings. I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them.
Therefore, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
But Moses asked God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” “I will surely be with you,” God said, “and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship God on this mountain.”Then Moses asked 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?’ What should I tell them?”
Exodus 3:1-13
Questions
Every mother of a toddler or preschooler knows questions can be endless. We’ve all been there. Young children don’t seem to tire of firing a long string of questions, do they?
The best of mothers can grow weary from the effort it takes in just hearing all of them let alone answering them.
Inquiring Minds
Even as inquisitive adults, myself included, some of us regularly trade sleep for quizzical thoughts and fill our minds with quests before our morning feet hit the floor, and as our days grow, nothing seen or heard is exempt from starting another trail of questions leaving answers to be found out. You know, inquiring minds!
Silence
However, I’m not sure I, or any of us, having walked in Moses’s shoes would be able to form a solid word after what he had just lived through. Silence or even shocked half to death may have been a more understandable response.
God had a job for him
Yet, God knew him through and through, and He chose Moses specifically to accomplish exactly His plan for the Israelites. Despite Moses’ questions, God had a job for Him.
What ifs
I love that God allowed Moses to ask Him the what ifs. Moses was pretty important in the work of the Lord for his time, and it makes me feel better, as if my own thoughts when God gives me a job to do are sort of endorsed here in Moses’ life; he had questions just like I do. I bet I’m in like company here… am I right?
Had Moses not asked these questions, how would we know I Am?
I Am
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 told 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, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.
Exodus 3:14-15
Jehovah
Here we have the Hebrew name for LORD (which is the most used throughout the Bible), Jehovah, Yahweh. I AM. Jehovah God the, I AM.
It is enough
You and I know exactly what my mother was telling me in her words, “Because I said so.”
My children fully understood what their father means when he says, “Because she is your mother.”
We heard those simple words, we fully understood, and every time in our personal uncertainty we responded in retreat followed by silence, why?
It is enough to be Mom (or Dad).
Jehovah I AM. God told Moses to answer the Israelites in a bit of the same manner. The answer is, I AM…and that is everything, enough and all we need or could need. I AM.
I AM enough
All of your what ifs? What are they today? What are you facing in your heart personally that helps garner your own list of questions? Write them out and look at them. I have my own, too. I’ll wait here…
Now, Read through them.
Next, share them with the Lord. Tell Him you have these questions and how they’re making your feel scared, uncertain, defeated, unworthy, unprepared, or whatever you’re feeling.
Jehovah I AM
Now, just like Moses learned about His God, we affirm in our lives today knowing God is never changing and always the same. We know we can go to Him with our questions desireing to hear from and follow Him.
So, go with complete confidence, stay with the Lord wherever He has you and wherever He will be taking you. Don’t go ahead of Him, stay right here in today! And remember who He is: Jehovah God, Jehovah I AM.
I AM enough
For each of our what if’s, HE is I AM. He is enough. Rest there, friend, and live your life confidently in Jehovah I Am.
