I AM

“Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”” (Exodus 3:13–14)

The most common name for God in the scriptures is never translated into English.  Any time you see the word LORD in all caps it represents HIS name.  The name is YHWH and is pronounced something like Yahweh.  When Moses asked God His name that he could tell the people Yahweh is the name that He gave.  “I AM WHO I AM,” “I AM has sent me to you.”  Yahweh is used in the scriptures over 6,000 times.

What I am about to write is going to sound like an exaggeration but I promise that it is not!  The meaning packed in those four little Hebrew letters is inscrutable, it is inexhaustible, it is beyond full understanding!  The glorious new is that while we cannot exhaust it’s meaning, now or in eternity, there is much we can understand.

I believe that Tozer lands a devastating blow to our flesh in possibly the first step in the journey to know HIM more intimately when he writes:

Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly. We insist upon trying to modify Him and to bring Him nearer to our own image. The flesh whimpers against the rigor of God's inexorable sentence and begs like Agag for a little mercy, a little indulgence of its carnal ways. It is no use. We can get a right start only by accepting God as He is and learning to love Him for what He is. As we go on to know Him better we shall find it a source of unspeakable joy that God is just what He is. Some of the most rapturous moments we know will be those we spend in reverent admiration of the Godhead. In those holy moments the very thought of change in Him will be too painful to endure.  Tozer

Let the average man be put to the proof on the question of who is above, and his true position will be exposed. Let him be forced into making a choice between God and money, between God and men, between God and personal ambition, God and self, God and human love, and God will take second place every time. Those other things will be exalted above. However the man may protest, the proof is in the choices he makes day after day throughout his life.  Tozer 

As A young man God gave me a very simple prayer…LORD I want to know you as you are, not as I want you to be!  Through the years, one by one, God has identified those things in my life and heart that I love more than Him and as HE has been gracious to allow me to see them and to repent and turn to Him with a child like faith.  

Pursuing Him together!
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“But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you.” (Psalm 5:11)