The God Who Is
June 12, 2022
Moses grew up in Egypt at the intersection between the Egyptians and the Israelites. Born an Israelite, adopted by an Egyptian, nursed by a slave, raised in a palace. You can imagine the pull between his two identities—respectable Egyptian education, with all its history, prestige, and culture, and Israelite blood, with only a few generations of history, lowly and enslaved, backwards. The Egyptians have a host of powerful gods; the Hebrews only have “the God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Due in part to his confusion about who he is, Moses ends up fleeing from both cultures, running to Midian and marrying a Midianite woman. As he would find out, running is not an effective way to escape God and the work God has set in front of you. God finds him in Midian, luring him onto Mt. Sinai by appearing in a burning bush. Arguing is also not an effective way to escape God—Moses tries to get out of his commission, but God answers every attempt.
And it’s lucky for us that he does! Moses pleads ignorance—“I can’t do your bidding, because I don’t know who you are,” and God immediately solves the problem—“I AM WHO I AM…Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Ex. 3.14)
The phrases here are open to other interpretations (and I’m actually not sure why it’s not usually translated differently)—“I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE…Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘THE ONE WHO IS has sent me to you.’”
I love that line—“I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE.” That’s the truth of it, isn’t it? Who am I to say who or what God will be? How can I, ignorant that I am, possibly comprehend the ways God will shape and mold history, what goods he will bring out from evils, what blessings he will coax from curses?
How can the Israelites possibly comprehend who God is or will be? They’re burdened with the shackles of slavery, slavery God has abandoned them to for something like 400 years. They don’t know God.
So God says, “Take a walk with me, and you’ll find out. No, you don’t know me yet, but you will. You will see my power, my might, my compassion, my love, my mercy. It will all be on display for your sake. Walk with me, and you’ll learn who I am.”
I know God is with me today. I can see that. Sometimes it’s hard to trust that God will be with me tomorrow. On those days, I turn to ONE who reveals himself as “I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE.” I’m not sure who that is right now, but I’m keen to find out.
—John Coffey
