Bullets for the Battle

You, Me, Moses and "I Am"!

Consider, one of the most remarkable statements found in Scripture. It is God’s response to a question by Moses. In three little letters – only two words – is unleashed a greater explosive power than when man split the atom and released nuclear energy.

You remember the story. The event of the burning bush in Exodus 3 is one of the classics of the Bible. The Lord had called Moses to leadership. Moses was chosen to bear the weight and responsibility of leading people from the pit to the promise – from slavery to salvation – from mediocrity to meaning.

Moses tries to convince God he’s not the man for such a major sacrifice! (Don’t we all?) Yet the Lord will not leave him alone! Nor will the Master give any of us that luxury! The man who has accepted Christ will be constantly exhorted, by light discipline to hard chastisement, to accept more of His cross. The longsuffering Job but it beautifully, “O Watcher of Heaven, why has Thou made me Your target?”

Moses knows He can’t escape “the truth of the Presence” so he pleads inadequacy. (One of our favorite ploys, I hear it in the church all the time!) “Who am I,” says Moses, :”to challenge Pharaoh and deliver Israel?” (Exodus 3:11)

The Lord implies that Moses is rather dense and has missed the whole point. The strength for the impossible is not dependent on “who Moses is” but on “who God chooses to be with!”

Once he realizes that, Moses questions what response that will evoke from others, in this case, the over one million Hebrews enslaved in Egypt! What authority can he have as one little man using the term “God of your fathers?” (3:13) Anyone could do that! They will expect more and want evidence.

Then Moses is told to tell them, “I Am,” (or a variant in Hebrew, “I Will”), “has sent you!” God determines that when Moses speaks in the Name of I Am, He, God, shall accompany that revelation with the power of conviction and demonstration! History confirms the fantastic results, the ten plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea and the giving of the Ten Commandments.

I Am says it all. I used to think the Lord missed it here by not finishing that declaration! For example, I Am the Greatest, or I Am the Power! Now I realize that would have been limiting and inadequate. I Am is Who He Is. The unlimited and inexhaustible Responder to all that comes against Him in rebellion or comes to Him in need. When Satan came against Him, the Lord demonstrated I Am your Superior! When man insists on his sinful rebellion, God says, I Am your Judge.

When the Christian is weak, God says, I Am your Strength. When you are lonely, He says, I Am your Friend. When you are in the dark and lost, He says, I Am your Light! To every need you or I can name, the Lord says, I Am your Answer … and lets us fill in the blank. Fantastic!

Is there an exciting, practical application for Biblical manhood? It is so obvious. A man is nothing unless he becomes God-dependent! Discipleship, the pursuit of and obedience to Christ – is nothing more than the deepening discover of the One who calls Himself I Am Who I Am. The goal is to turn “Who am I” men into those who can know and say, “I am God’s man in Christ.” Such confidence is the seed knowledge of all spiritual triumph.

As a Biblical man, I must never thing first of “what is” but “what I am” because of I Am. In response to unbelievable financial pressure, the Biblical man says, “I am confident.” Regarding his betrayal by key personnel who have jeopardized his business, he testifies, “I am a man who endures.” In reaction to a severe physical problem or failed health, he declares, “I am one who finds the Master’s purpose in everything!” Perhaps best of all, the “I Am” man has discovered the key to a happy and significant marriage. As a Biblical man, my mind is not to be focused on what expectations my wife should fulfill toward me but always on what “I am” to her.

The Biblical man never considers any situation or circumstance as the major issue. No! Only one thought dominates. It’s not “what is” but what “I am” in the midst of “what is” that reveals my true passion to follow my Master!

The Lord told Moses to tell Israel “I Am has sent me.” Yet to Moses, He revealed His deeper purpose and more intimate Name when He called Himself I Am Who I Am. The lesson here is that true men must always know the deeper character of their Creator. The greatest Christian who ever lived captured this insight. The Apostle Paul took Exodus 3:14 and phrased it as every Biblical man’s highest ambition, “By the grace of God, I am what I am.” (I Corinthians 15:10)

Nothing matters for the Biblical man other than being what “I am” by Christ’s power and for Christ’s glory! Only then will everything else matter as it should! Only then will we enter into the exhilarating and life-changing experience of knowing I Am has also laid His hand on us!