WHO GOD IS

Today I was given the opportunity to Skype into a Bible School in London, England, and share on the topic of who God is to me. Despite a few sound issues, and me talking a little too fast, the meeting went well and God blessed it all. I was asked when it was over to share my notes with the class so that the missed parts could be filled in - and I felt inclined to share them here as well. Who knows, maybe you too are curious of who God is.

In order to talk about who God is, I think it is required that we also take a look at our response to who God is. When I begin to think on this topic, my mind automatically turns to Exodus 3. It is within this chapter that we find Moses standing before the burning bush. Yet how did Moses get to this place?
We probably all know the story, the little child in the basket floating down the Nile and washing up in the place where Pharaoh’s daughter was taking her bath. Moses’ sister, who happens to be in this private area, offers to fetch a Hebrew woman to wean the child, and forty years pass. Soon enough, Moses somehow figures out that the Hebrews are his people, and seeing injustice done, steps in and kills an Egyptian man. The next day Moses stumbles upon injustice once more, this time between two Hebrews, and again steps in. But this time he is questioned by the Hebrews, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?...(Ex 2:14a)." Knowing he had been found out, and knowing now that Pharaoh wanted to kill him (Ex 2:15), Moses flees Egypt and comes into the region of Midian.
It is here in Midian that Moses’ life starts over, both physically and spiritually. In the process of forty years, Moses weds one of the daughters of Jethro, Tzipporah, and has a child, Gershom. And in this time, the Pharaoh who wanted Moses dead has himself passed on. Moses has become a shepherd and while out with the sheep, sees something that cannot leave his attention – a bush consumed with fire, yet not burning (Ex 3-4).
Moses approaches the bush, and from it hears his named being called, “Moses! Moses!” He answers with the response, “Here I am.” From within the bush the voice of God gives him direction, explaining the calling that he is to move forward in. That calling is the deliverance of God’s people. But it wasn’t enough for Moses to hear this voice. He wanted to know who this ‘god’ was. Why? Well to answer this we must understand the culture from which Moses came.
For forty years Moses had been raised in a culture where there was a god for everything. For issues relating to the sun, one beckoned to Ra. For issues relating to fertility, one called out to Heket. If one needed help with their crops, a prayer was offered to Hathor. And if the weather just wasn’t going your way, you could petition to Seth. So with this knowledge that there was not just one god, Moses questions, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to the them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” (Ex 3:13). In all actuality, this was a valid question. And to this question God answers, “’I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.’” In the Hebrew it reads, “God said further to Moshe, ‘Say this to the people of Isra’el: ‘Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh [ADONAI], the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, the God of Yitz’chak and the God of Ya’akov, has sent me to you.’”
This name is so holy that it is not spoken as a name, but rather as letters in the Hebrew Bible. It is this name that we are commanded not to take in vain (Commandment 3). This name alone holds the power of God Himself. And this name, written as יהוֹה carries an unknown power that makes the devil wince and demons shrink back. As we look a little deeper at this, we can find that this name is known as the Tetragrammaton. In English, this name is written as YHWH, and is derived from the Hebrew triconsonantal root. It is mainly translated from the Hebrew in English texts as “I am what I am” or “I will be that which I am now”.
The point in all this etymology is not to bore you, but rather to help in the understanding of our text. In John 18, as Jesus was finishing His prayer in the garden, the Roman soldiers were on the move. Their mission was to find the Christ and arrest him. It is hard to say if they were unsure of what Jesus looked like, or if it was too dark and they couldn’t make his face out in the light of the torches, but either way they were asked by Jesus who they were looking for. The small army replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.” As Jesus replied, “I am he,” the soldiers fell down (Jn 18:6). Notice the power of His name, such power that the crowd falls down. And this same name, was the name that Moses was to take with him to Egypt.
Now if the I AM WHO I AM, or I WILL BE ALL THAT YOU NEED ME TO BE, is a right translation of the original word used, then would God not have had to prove that He was all that they needed Him to be? Taking a look just at what Moses and the Israelites needed Him to be, I come up with a few characteristics of God.
1) They needed God to be REDEMPTION. They needed to see that God would redeem them from their slavery. And God proved this characteristic. He was their redemption, for in Exodus 12:31, Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and told them, along with all the Israelites, to leave. The promise that God had given to Abraham concerning slavery and redemption (Gen 15:12-16) was coming true.
2) They needed God to be LOVE. A loving parent not only hears his child, but listens to his child. In listening to the cries of the Israelites (Ex 3:7), God proved His care and compassion; His love for them.
3) They needed God to be YOKE-BREAKING. There were occasions where Moses was granted an offer from Pharaoh to go ahead and leave (Ex 8:28, 10:8-11, 10:24), but in each of these occasions not every person or every animal belonging to the Israelites was allowed to go. This means that some remainder of the curse of slavery was still holding Israel in bondage. But God had spoken in Exodus 6:6-7 that He was a God who would not only bring them out of Egypt, but bring them out from under the yoke of slavery.
4) They needed God to be PROVISION. After leaving Egypt, the people passed over the dry ground of the Red Sea, to the oasis of Elim, and then into the Desert of Sin, before making it to the base of Mount Sinai. Food and water were hard to find in the desert, yet still God proved Himself as Jehovah Jirah, their Provider, in giving them manna, quail, and water.
5) They needed God to be DIRECTION. Proverbs 3:5-6 says to trust in the LORD with all our heart, lean not on our own understanding, acknowledge Him in all our ways, and He will make our paths straight. Basically, in trusting Him, He becomes our direction. As the Israelites trusted God to lead them with the fire and cloud, they were able to find their way into the Promise Land He was taking them. In guiding them from point A to point B, He proved to be their direction.
6) They needed God to be a WARRIOR. There were battles that still had to be fought after they were released from Egypt’s hand. And God proved that He would fight for them, for even as Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ hands, we read of a victory that came to Israel (Ex 17:8-16) over the Amalekites. Perhaps Miriam shows this character of God best when she sings, “The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name (Ex 15:3).”
7) They needed God to be POWER AND MIGHT. In the most miraculous of ways, God proved His power and might. For every Egyptian god, God proved His authority by destroying what it supposedly reigned over.
Over Hapi, the god of the Nile, God proved His power as the water was turned to blood.
Over Heket, the goddess of fertility, God proved His power by bringing a horde of frogs that Pharaoh’s men could not stop.
Over the god of the dust, Geb, God showed his power by producing an onslaught of lice when the ground was touched by the staff.
Over the god of insects, Khepri, God showed His power by sending swarms of them to infest the homes of the Egyptians.
Over the god of livestock, Hathor, God showed His power by bringing a plague of destruction over the horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, and flocks, bringing on them a devastating illness.
Over the goddess of health and medicine, Isis, God showed His power by bringing on the people the plague of boils.
Over the goddess of thunder and hail, Nut, God showed His power as hail struck the fields, the people, and the animals, taking the life of all living things left in its path.
Over the god of the wind and storms, Seth, God proved His power in sending a wind that blew in with it a horde of locusts to invade Egypt. They covered the ground, ate the plants, and attacked any green thing that showed signs of life and was not already destroyed.
Over the god of the sun, Ra, God showed His power by hiding the sun from Egypt, bringing a darkness so thick that it could be felt by the people.
And finally, God proved His power as the giver and taker of life, a power that only He holds. The warning had been given to Moses that at midnight the final plague would roam Egypt, and a great cry never before heard would invade the land. True to His word, God unleashed death to the firstborn throughout all Egypt right at midnight. People and animals alike were found dead. But why? As we have seen already, God had proven Himself greater than the gods of Egypt. Still one god, or image of god, remained. The Pharaoh himself was esteemed in their culture as a god. In killing even the son of Pharaoh, God proved His might and authority over the last of the false gods.
In each area that God promised to be the I AM, or the I WILL BE, He came through. Who is God? God is Redemption, Love, Yoke-Breaking, Power, Provision, Direction, and Warrior. And these characteristics are just the tip of the iceberg when defining who God is.
Lest we should end here, though, I feel it is to our benefit to also answer the question of what is our response to who God is. Looking back at the beginning of Moses’ encounter with the burning bush, we read that from the bush a voice calls out, “Moses! Moses!” Moses answers with “Here I am.” In reading this response I am reminded of my days in elementary school where the teacher would take roll call. When my name was called, I responded with, “here.” But in truth, this is a poor translation of the word.
In Hebrew, Moses’ response is the word HINENI. Hineni is translated literally as here I am, ready to listen, ready to respond, and ready to obey. This same word is used in Genesis 22:1 when Abraham is paused from sacrificing Isaac. It is also used in Isaiah 6:8, when Isaiah responds to the question of who will be sent. Moses heard the voice from the unconsumed bush and replied “Hineni!” Before Moses even knew who it was that called him, or what the task would be, he replied, “Here I am, ready to listen, ready to respond, and ready to obey.”
So let’s just be honest to these next two questions. First, do we truthfully see God as the I AM; as the God who is everything we could ever need? He has proven Himself to be this, both to Moses and to us. But secondly, when He calls to us, do we in turn respond with the answer, hineni? God wants us to see Him as our everything, but He also wants us to give Him everything, and in giving Him everything we surrender whatever control we want to hold on to. If the Israelites had held on to their ways, would they ever have made it out of Egypt and into the Promise Land? Probably not. If we continue to hold on to control, will we ever make it to our Promise Land? Probably not. Maybe it is best that we, when called by God, respond that we are here, ready to listen, ready to respond, and ready to obey, taking our places of control out of the equation so that God can truly be the I AM He longs to be in our life.