In Exodus 3:14 we have a very definitive statement!
God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM
In short God is I AM.
This means that he never changes and of course he is outside of time, unlike humanity. We humans as you will be aware are totally subject to time and its various constraints.
Therefore, to fully understand the statement of how God describes Himself takes serious consideration, where we think limit, He is not bound by that. Where we think hours, days, months and years or seasons, God is outside all of these periods. In short, He is above and beyond and so is simply, I AM. The one who never changes.
Accordingly, some may need to consequently change their thinking about how God is viewed. Particularly as He is everywhere and knows us intimately (e.g. by knowing the hairs on our head-Luke 12:7), but also what we are going to do daily (where He knows our thoughts, words and actions ahead of time – see Psalm 139:).
To try to put this into some sort of context that we can understand, imagine an ant’s nest in a corner of the garden which we decide to look at daily. Simplistically, through our aerial view we can see the whole picture as the ants go about their activities and stretching a point, we’ll gradually get to know their habits and possibly even individual ants. We can destroy the nest at any time, or alternatively, we can provide significant help in various ways. We are not only outside but completely above their world.
This gives a very small idea of God and humanity. God looking down sees everything, nothing escapes Him.
Given the uniqueness of I AM, the one who never changes what do we think about this or more pointedly about our Lord? After all time constraints of hours and days combined with the changing weather of each season means that we face a different set of circumstances that must be dealt with. So, where is our priority?
The limitless or the limited?
The eternal or the temporary?
The term I AM was also used by Jesus, where He used this phrase some 7 times in such ways as I am the Good Shepherd, or I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life, the incredible importance of Jesus being I AM helps us to understand both His Lordship and just how much He did for us.
In the same way we can also use the term to describe what we have as His followers, for example I am a new creation, I am forgiven and there are so many more.
I AM is definitive and it’s absolute, it’s what God and Jesus is, and a term we can use although on a much lesser level.
I AM stands out as being completely above and over all else.
It’s broadly like doing a puzzle, where we think of, I AM as something similar to the clouds for example, thereby forgetting He is not just the biggest number of pieces. But that He is the puzzle, and we are the pieces who fit in.
So how do you and I think about I am? Is he above all? Or alternatively, only a part of a busy life that is fitted in with all the other things that occupy our time and minds?
Today we are in the temporary, all to soon we will be in the eternal, perhaps a good time to consider, which of these two is the longer and the greater? And which of these two are given the greater prominence in our lives?
Pharoah and the Egyptian army fell to I AM. Goliath and the Philistines were routed by I AM’s peoples, Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful King was humbled to repentance by I AM, I AM through Jesus defeated Satan.
If I AM is for us, then who can be against us?
Are we for I AM first and foremost?
With all blessings
Tony
PS this blog is updated weekly.