I Am Who I Am
When God told Moses to return to Egypt to bring His people out of slavery, Moses asked Him, "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’s his name?' what shall I say to them?"
Now that seems like a strange request. Why is a name important? He has already identified God as the God of your fathers. Why might they want a name as well?
In our culture names don’t mean much. They are identity markers. Parents often choose them for no better reason than that they like the sound of them. But, in the Bible, a name is often much more than that. A name tells us about the nature and character of the person. This is especially true for God. Therefore it’s important for us to take note of the names of God. So what name does God reveal to Moses?
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 3:14)
God’s name is I AM WHO I AM.
In order to understand what this name communicates, it is important to see that it is in the form of an idiom (idem per idem formula). Another example of this idiom is used by God in Exodus 33, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.” This idiom shows the absolute freedom of the person to do the specified action.
When God says, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious”, He is saying He is absolutely free to be gracious. His grace is never forced or constrained. He can give or withhold His grace as He freely chooses.
What does “I AM WHO I AM” mean? God is absolutely free to ‘be’. God’s existence is not affected or determined or constrained by anything outside of Himself. This is vastly different to our experience. We live because God gave and continues to give us life. If He decides to take our life away, we will die and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.
This is the creature - creator distinction. God’s name is, “I AM WHO I AM.” Our name is “I am who God decides.” We are dependent creatures. God is independent; His life is in Himself.
This truth is seen, not only in the name God gave Moses, but also in the theophany (appearance of God) that accompanied the name.
And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, "I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned." When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." (Exodus 3:2-4)
God appeared to Moses in a flame of fire that did not consume the bush. Now think about that for a moment. Fire needs fuel to live. Without fuel, fire goes out. Yet here God appeared as a fire that didn’t need fuel. It was a self-sustaining fire.
The theophany confirms what we learnt about God through His name. God is self-existent. He has no need for anything outside of Himself. He is by nature absolutely free and unconstrained.
Relating Rightly
With this understanding of God in mind, let us look at Psalm 50. This Psalm sits in our Bibles as a warning to those who get our theology of God’s independence wrong. For, as we will see, this truth goes right to the heart of how we are to relate to God.
The Mighty One, God the LORD,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.
Our God comes; he does not keep silence;
before him is a devouring fire,
around him a mighty tempest.
(Psalm 50:1-3)
The Psalm pictures God coming as a great and mighty God. His dominion extends over the whole earth. His glory shines forth. Before Him is devouring fire. Around Him is a mighty storm.
When I was first in Fiji, I was told there was a hurricane coming. I had never experienced a hurricane before and so I was quite excited. But I noticed the locals didn’t share my optimism. They knew hurricanes and they were frightened. This is a terrifying image. God is to be feared.
He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
"Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!“
The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge! Selah
(Psalm 50:4-6)
Now we see why God is coming. He is coming in judgment against His people. He was silent for a time, but now He will speak in prosecution against the guilty. We have before us a court room scene. God is judge and prosecutor. His people are in the dock. The heavens and the earth are witnesses.
"Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
(Psalm 50:7)
This is not a happy place to be for God’s people. God is furious with them. What have they done wrong?
Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
(Psalm 50:8)
It wasn’t their practice of offering sacrifices that was the problem. God had established the sacrificial system and they were diligent in performing their offerings. So what was wrong? Listen to the next bit carefully.
I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.
For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
"If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and its fullness are mine.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
(Psalm 50:9-13)
Do you hear the problem? The problem was with their mind-set. They thought God needed their sacrifices for food, or strength or satisfaction. They should have realised that God has no needs. As we have seen, He is I AM WHO I AM. He is never hungry and He doesn’t need to eat. Their offerings offended God because they made Him look needy.
The Israelites of all people should have known this, but they had been affected by the worldviews of the nations around them. In human religion, the thought is often that we exist to provide for God. For example, in the Enuma Elish, an ancient Babylonian creation story, we are told that humans were made to provide food for the gods. The Biblical creation story stands in stark contrast. God is the one who provides humans with food. He is the giver, we the receivers.
And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. (Genesis 1:29-30)
When the Apostle Paul was in Athens, he came face to face with the same kind of pagan religion and world view. Notice how he begins his presentation.
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. (Acts 17:24-25)
God has no needs and cannot be served by us as though He did. He is the giver; we the receivers.
Now this is a scary thought for many people. You see, if God has needs, then He can be controlled and manipulated to some degree. We can say to God, “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” But a God who is independent and self-sufficient is absolutely free. Nothing can constrain Him. You cannot control or manipulate this kind of God. He has no itches to scratch. You cannot put Him in your debt. With a God like this, we are totally dependent on His mercy.
The Israelites should have known better, but they blew it. In their thinking, they turned the great self-sufficient I AM WHO I AM into a small dependent, needy god. They belittled Him, and brought upon themselves God’s wrath.
This shows that theology matters. In Psalm 50, God brings judgment upon His people because of what they were thinking. Righteousness is not just about right actions; it is also about right thinking.
How then should we relate to God so that we don’t belittle Him as needy?
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and perform your vows to the Most High,
(Psalm 50:14)
Do you see the mind-set operating behind these ways of relating to God?
These actions affirm God as the giver and us as the receivers. Both celebrate what God has done to meet our needs. They call attention to God’s action on our behalf.
and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.
(Psalm 50:15)
Here we have the same God-honouring mind-set in play. We are the needy ones, not God. We need His help, He doesn’t need ours. What is the result of relating to God this way? We get the help and He gets the glory.