The Name Behind Every Name

Moses had a fair question. He was standing barefoot in front of a bush that would not burn up, and God had just told him to go back to Egypt and lead a nation of slaves out from under the most powerful king on earth. Moses had already run from Egypt once. Now he was supposed to walk back in. So he asked what any of us would ask. When the people say, What is His name? what do I tell them?

In the ancient world a name was not just a label on a coffee mug. It said something about who you were. Moses wanted to know who exactly was sending him. And God answered with words that people have been thinking about for three thousand years. “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Then God gave him the name itself. In verse 15 English Bibles print it as “The LORD,” in small capital letters. Behind that word is God's personal name, four Hebrew letters, YHWH. It sounds like and is connected to the Hebrew verb “to be.” God was not giving Moses a riddle to dodge the question. He was telling him the truth about Himself. He simply is. He was not made. He does not depend on anyone. He does not run low. He does not change with the weather or the stock market or the election.

Think about everything you depend on. Your paycheck depends on your employer. Your employer depends on customers. Your health depends on a hundred things you cannot control. Even the sun you will see this morning depends on God to keep it burning. But God depends on nothing. He is not one more thing in your life that might fail. He is the One everything else leans on.

And notice what He says next. He calls Himself the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. The great I AM is not a distant force. He is a God who ties His name to real people. Abraham, who lied about his wife. Isaac, who played favorites. Jacob, who was a schemer from birth. God was not ashamed to be called their God. Then He says, “This is My name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.” That includes yours.

Now jump ahead well over a thousand years. Jesus is arguing with religious leaders in the temple courts, and He tells them, “Truly, truly, I tell you,” and then, “before Abraham was born, I am!” They picked up stones to throw at Him. They understood exactly what He was claiming. The One who spoke from the bush had come in the flesh. The I AM had a face, a voice, and eventually nail scars.

That is the heart of the gospel. The God who needs nothing came to give everything. The One who cannot die took on flesh so He could die for sinners like Abraham and Jacob, and sinners like you and me. Then He walked out of the grave, because death cannot hold the One who simply is. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

So what do you do with this name on a Tuesday morning? You stop treating God as one more item to manage and start resting in Him as the One who manages everything. When Moses felt weak, God did not tell him to believe in himself. He told him who was sending him. That is your answer too. You are not enough. He is. I AM goes with you into that meeting, that hospital room, that hard conversation at the kitchen table.

Moses still had to go back to Egypt. Your hard thing is still waiting for you today. But you do not walk into it alone, and you do not walk into it with a God who might run out. You walk in with the LORD.