Being Invited to Know God by a New Name

Moses encountered God at the burning bush.  God audibly told Moses that He would use Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt.  If anyone should be confident he had heard the Word of God and was walking in His will it would be Moses.  It should be smooth sailing from here on out right?  God even gave Moses a few miraculous signs to confirm the deal.  Fast forward a couple of weeks.  Moses has appeared before Pharoah, and said, "Let my people go."  Pharoah said no.  The people are upset and asking Moses why he ever came and bothered them in the first place.  Now Moses himself is confused.  This is NOT what he thought would happen.

Here is Moses's conversation with God:

Exodus 5:22-23

Moses returned to the LORD and said,

“Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people?

Is this why you sent me?

Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name,

he has brought trouble on this people,

and you have not rescued your people at all.”

God's response:

Exodus 6:2b-4

I am the Lord.

I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

by the name God Almighty,

but they did not know me by my name, the Lord.

God was about to take Israel on a journey to freedom and in the process of this journey He was going to reveal Himself to them in a new way.  The Israelites had only known God as El-Shaddi/God Almighty, that He was great in power but through this journey they were going to learn to know Him in a new way as YHWH.

In a word study of YHWH you don't end up getting a clear defintion, or something you can hold onto.  But God himself defines it in Exodus 3:13-15 "I AM WHO I AM."  What does that mean?  It means God will be who He IS and that He is not defined, restricted or overwhelmed by the situations man finds himself in.  HE stands independent.  And if you continue to read Exodus 6, I AM WHO I AM is revealed by the promise of His character:  

Exodus 6:6-8

I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.

I will free you from being slaves to them,

 and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm

and with mighty acts of judgment. 7

I will take you as my own people,

and I will be your God.

Then you will know that I am the LORD your God,

who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8

And I will bring you to the land I swore

with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.

I will give it to you as a possession.

 I am the LORD.’”

If you keep reading in Exodus you know that things still do not get "easier" from this point on.  There is a fight for freedom and an attack against it, but you also see that God is right there every step away.  I AM goes before them and with them in very tangible and personal ways.  He invites Moses and the people of Israel to partner with Him through the battle for freedom.

God still has many names and different ways He reveals Himself to man.  One of those names remains "I AM."  He is the Great I AM who keeps His covenant of love to all generations.  Getting to know the Great I AM does not mean life will be smooth sailing, it does not mean things will get "easier."  It does mean, however, that we can rest in Him and we don't need to be overwhelmed by our situations or by the times it looks like what God has promised us isn't happening.  It means we can keep our eyes on Him and not on our situations and it means we can know Him and we can trust Him.

People often quote

Isaiah 55:8-9

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

and your ways are not My ways.”

[This is] the Lord’s declaration.

“For as heaven is higher than earth,

so My ways are higher than your ways,

and My thoughts than your thoughts.”—Isaiah 55:8–9

as a proof that we can never know what God is going to do and so we just need to throw our hands up and accept whatever is happening as God's way.  We may not know how God is going to move through situations but we can and we do know God's character:  He is ALWAYS GOOD and HE is ALWAYS LOVING.  When we are in the midst of darkness, we do not need to embrace the darkness or say it is from God instead we need to hide in His character and ask Him to lead us through the darkness to the place of freedom.

Isaiah 43:2-3.

When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

you will not be burned;

the flames will not set you ablaze.

 For I am the LORD your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Perhaps you have found yourself in a situation where God promised you something, you stepped out in what He asked you and now it seems like everything blew up in your face.  May these passages of Scripture encourage you that something entirely different may be going on.  Perhaps God is inviting you to know Him in a way you have never known Him before, as the Great I AM.  The GOD who will be WHO He will be even in the midst of dark and difficult situations. The darkness is not from Him, He is not overwhelmed or confused by the darkness, but He will walk with you through the darkness to the side of freedom, because that is who HE IS.

In Christ,