The Lord — He IS

 

This week, various events and lots of bad news leave me feeling small, an insignificant spot in a huge universe. Today’s word humbles me too for in studying that God is Lord I realize how ‘small’ is exactly how I should feel!

This Hebrew word is YHWH with the best guess it is pronounced “Yawheh.” The Hebrew people were leery of saying it in case they violated the commandment about taking God’s name in vain so they used “Lord” instead, the small capitals indicating it was not “adoni” meaning “master” but YHWH meaning “self-existing one”. It appears almost 7000 times in the OT and in every book except Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Esther. This name was revealed to Moses at the burning bush when he asked God for His name.

Exodus 3:13–15. 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.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘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 thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

This passage reminds me of several wonders about God. First, He reveals Himself to His people. I remember the first time He walked into my life to stay with me forever. No burning bush, but I knew without any explanation that the Person called Jesus Christ is God who came to earth in human flesh to save me from my sin. It was light that replaced darkness, the most incredible experience!

Second, God sends people to do important things. They are not necessarily special people in any way. In this context, Moses protested concerning his inadequacies, but God did not let him get away with it. He was to lead God’s people out of bondage. The things God asks me to do are much less vital in my eyes, yet if God is asking it, then it fits into a plan that I cannot see and dare not say is unimportant.

Third, the Lord reminded Moses that he was not the only person in His kingdom as He named Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I need that reminder too. I’ve met some of the people of God that I consider pillars in the church, people like Elizabeth Elliot and John MacArthur and some well-known authors, yet found out that they are ordinary people too, with quirks and weaknesses like my own. These ‘pillars’ are in jars of clay; none of us are anything apart from the empowering of the Lord. All must admit to feeling small and when I feel small, it is because I am small.

A fourth thing that speaks to me from this passage is that God is the I AM, the One who exists. There is a connection between forgetting that and feeling small. Every time that it seems God is not here, not doing anything, not ‘alive and well’ I feel my inadequacy and need for Him. Yet He has not gone. He is the I AM. He exists. I need to remember His Name. He is the Lord, the One who IS, whether I am sensing His presence or feeling alone and without Him.

Moses protested that he could not do what God wanted him to do, but God rebuked him with a reminder using miraculous signs. Moses still balked . . .

Exodus 4:10–13. But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”

At that, the Lord became angry and picked Moses’ brother to do the talking saying He would put the words in His mouth. I can relate to this too, letting my sense of smallness interfere with obedience.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. So much can be said about the divine name and how it connects to God’s promises and His glory. He reveals Himself again and again in terms of this Name that His people would know and obey Him so they would “fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 28:58) The point is, when I feel small and alone, I need to remember what God has shown me about Himself during those times of feeling powerful and in His glorious presence. What I am in the dark needs to rely heavily on what the Lord my God, the I AM, has revealed to me in the light.