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 3:14)

In the Book of Exodus, when Moses meets God at the burning bush, God states his own name for the first time. He is telling Moses that this is my name, and this is how you are to introduce me to my people. It is an all-inclusive name. It conveys eternity: He is in every time, past, present, and future. It conveys self-existence; He is dependent upon no one and nothing for his existence. God is the Creator, and everything other thing that has ever existed was created by him. Unfathomable, unsearchable, truly awesome.

Essential and foundational to our faith is knowing God. Yet what a challenge! God is so much more than our human minds can grasp. In Romans 11:33-34 (quoting from Isaiah 40;13) – Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” This is the Apostle Paul speaking. If he is in awe of God, how much more should we be.

The best way to know about God is to read his Word to us in the Bible. We can read account after account of how God has accomplished great and good things; how he has made and kept his promises. Even Balaam, a pagan prophet, acknowledged that “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?” (Numbers 23:19). I especially like how our CEO, Glenn Cranfield, puts it. “God is who he says he is, and he can do what he says he will do.”

In the New Testament, when the crowds challenged Jesus as to his identity, they referenced Abraham. “Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?” (John 8:53). Jesus replied: “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58). With this statement, Jesus invoked his own divinity as the second person of the Trinity. In other chapters of the book of John, Jesus makes seven “I AM” statements of his own:

1. “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51)

2. “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12)
3. “I am the door.” (John 10:7)
4. “I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25)
5. “I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11, 14)
6. “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
7. “I am the true vine.” (John 15:1, 5)

Finally, three times in the Book of Revelation, Jesus tells John: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:13). In subsequent Chaplain Corner devotionals, we will explore these “I AM” statements of Jesus and how they relate to the message of the entire Bible of redemption and reconciliation.

The best way to know about God is to study His Word. The best way to know God is to believe what his Word says to us and to put that belief into practice. What does this mean for you and me? It makes all the difference to me when I pray. If I begin my prayer as Jesus instructed, “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name,” and when I ponder who he is and how h has kept his promises throughout all time, then I can pray with confidence, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” God is who he says he is, and he can do what he says he will do.

In Christ,

Judy