Exodus 3

I had the nicest conversation just now with my son about God's name. We were talking about what he learned at Switch and when I looked up a verse online about it, He asked why the word Lord was in all caps. I told him that that indicated that the original Hebrew used the word YHWH there and not some other word for God or Lord. So of course that's a can of worms and we ended up here.

I love this conversation. It was almost funny reading it aloud to him. We laughed about what we would have said if God started talking to us out of a bush. Likely a lot more interjections and exclamation parks. But the fact that Moses didn't really even know God and they just got on so well from the start. You know later, the Bible is clear that God and Moses were friends and they talked openly and probably quite audibly. But this was the first time. Moses didn't even know who he was talking to.

Of course the point here is not that God even has a name. As I explained to Kenny, the only reason people even have names is for us to distinguish each other and because we have parents that gave us a name. God doesn't need a name. He is alone in His class. So the answer to Moses' question wasn't about giving God a "handle" or giving Moses a pronunciation guide. It was about who He is.

"I AM who I AM." I AM. Or in Hebrew, YHWH, which we pronounce Yahweh and early translators transcribed as Jehovah. He was setting Himself above definition or classification. He simply exists. He is. When we come to God we need to remember the magnitude of the occasion. The incredible glorious power in the One who simply "IS" and always Has Been and always Will Be.

But He also had a history with them. "I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Remember Him? I'm that God." When we come to God we need to check our rear view mirror and acknowledge the wonderful things He has done. Not just in the Bible but in our own past.

I'm probably going to write some more about my conversation with Kenny about YHWH because it got really heady after that. We both, who think for sport, enjoy a God you cannot begin to comprehend.