I Am Not

God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” (Exodus 3:14 ESV)

I have thought about this piece of scripture a lot, “I am,” that is my name, “I am”. What are the implications of this statement? It is all-consuming, “I am.” How do you deal with the fact that there is a being who identifies Himself as “I am," now deal with it?

“I am”, I simply am. I have no beginning and will have no ending. You are not like me. I depend on nothing; everything depends on me. Nothing can define me, yet I define everything. Nothing can control me, yet I control everything. I am everything, without me there is nothing, “I am.”

You could spend a lifetime pondering the name of God alone. Your entire life could be focused on just coming to terms with who God is, that He is, and that He is, changes your whole life. It changes everything. You live in the face of a God who simply is, always is, and always has been.

This idea has radically changed my thoughts on, and how I think about God, and it should change yours. If we are to live in the face of a God who is, then our life’s purpose must be defined by Him. He must define us as His children. Do you think that you can just get up and say I am going to do this with my life in the shadow that is God? How does that work when all things including you depend on Him? Do you see what I mean? Do you see the implications of the great “I am” as it relates to you? How can we come up with anything given His sheer existence?

I don’t know what I thought before God placed this on my heart, I know what I have done since He has, and I urge you to do the same. Let Him define who you are. You have decided how to live your life. How has that been working for you? My life before I met Jesus Christ was a car crash. It was a huge 40-car twisted steel, drama, and trauma car crash. The only way possible for your life to have any meaning whatsoever is to truly acknowledge who God is, “I am.”

If you read our posts as part of your devotions to God, what ripple effect do you want from our partnership with God? He must give you that ripple effect. If you belong to a church, what ripple effect do you want from that experience? For your life to have any impact on anything or anyone God must define that for you and for that to happen you must surrender to Him.

Listen, I do not know a lot of things. Mostly what I know is superfluous nonsense, facts, or trivia. But I do know this, for your life to have meaning you only need to know a few wonderful all-consuming things and live by them. The greatest is, “I am” is God. As He is God, our purpose is found in this: God designed the universe. He created, controls, and manages it to maintain order so that He is glorified in all creation, history, and order. God did this so He could display His Glory for the ever-increasing enjoyment of His people.1 God displays His glory so that we can be satisfied in the blessings and mercies of God, and through our satisfaction, God becomes most glorified.

“I am”, what a statement. I know I am not. I never can be. All I can do; all you can do is understand who God truly is and bow down before Him. Trust in God and He will give you a meaningful, long-lasting, memorable life in which despite the trials and tribulations, you will be happy and satisfied in God and God will be elevated in glory.

Grace and Peace!

1. John Piper, Desiring God.