I Am Who I Am

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.’”

- Exodus 3:13-14

A handful of years ago, I was helping out in a middle school youth group.  It was a thriving group with a core set of volunteers.  I was introduced to everyone and was fitting right in with the team.  About a month into volunteering, they asked me to lead a game up front. I got the crowd all hyped up; the game was a complete success, mainly due to our most committed volunteer, who had been running the sound board and selecting the best music.

This particular volunteer grew up going to the church and had been serving with the group for a handful of years.  He was an extremely tough read, skeptical of me, protective over the kids, and the last volunteer I needed to win over in order to be fully embraced by this youth group.  So I decided this was the perfect opportunity to have everyone clap and cheer for him and his epic DJ skills. I shouted over the microphone, “Everybody, let's give a huge round of applause to MORGAN for helping us make that game so epic!” The room went silent; and if you know middle schoolers, silence is typically unattainable. I stood there with a big dumb smile on my face, realizing I had just called the most committed volunteer by the absolute wrong name! I fumbled through a way to salvage the situation, laughed it off, and have never called Cameron by the wrong name since. I ended up having an amazing friendship with Cameron.  To this day we laugh over the time I called him Morgan.

Names are so important. I don’t know about you, but my brain runs a million miles an hour. I find myself meeting new people and realizing they’ve told me their name, but I completely forgot it the second after they said it. How can you ever truly know someone without first knowing their name?

Most of us are aware that God knows our name and who we are... but do we know God’s name?

Exodus 3 clearly tells us God’s name, “I AM WHO I AM,” even though this sounds like something a parent says to their three year old who constantly asks “why” every 3 seconds. Side note: we all should be more like our three year old brothers and sisters and start asking “why?” more.

I AM WHO I AM, or Yahweh, is God’s actual name. This is so important because it shows us that the God we believe in is a relational being.  He wants to have a relationship with you... similar to the relationship you have with a spouse, brother, sister, mom, dad, aunt, uncle, or best friend.

What is also incredibly important about the name I AM WHO I AM is the fact that God doesn’t waver - He’s consistent, all the time and always.  He is who He says He is; meaning that if God is gracious, He’s always gracious.

This is most certainly true, and it’s where we humans are not like God.  Humans are very good at hurting one another; especially the more they know about one another.  The more you get to know Yahweh, the more you understand who you are and how to best navigate life with one another.

So, why does this matter? It matters because, if you don’t relate to God in a personal way, you’re missing out on an essential part of what it means to be a Christian.  Pause, take a deep breath and realize that you get to have a personal relationship with the Creator of the breath you just took.  Here at the church, we’re constantly talking about being good neighbors. The best way to become the greatest version of a good neighbor is to know God by His name, and have a personal relationship with Him.

Once you do, loving your neighbor becomes a natural byproduct of your love for Yahweh.

Pastor Caden

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