Pastor Dennis Smith
In the third chapter of Exodus, Moses encounters God. In that passage, we have the familiar story of Moses at the burning bush. As God spoke to Moses from the bush, He called him to go to Pharaoh and lead the Lord’s people out of servitude in Egypt. A reluctant Moses first said, “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11). When God assured Moses that He would be with him, Moses asked another question: “When I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?” (Exodus 3:13).
Moses first asked, “Who am I,” and then he asked, “Who are you?” God’s answer was simple, yet more profound than we can ever comprehend. He said to Moses, “I AM THAT I AM… Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you” (Exodus 3:14).
God could no more clearly state, in terms of human language, who He is: He is the self-existent one, the one who just is. Our God, the one we call upon as our Heavenly Father, exists in Himself, needing nothing and depending on no one or anything for His existence. He is the creator of all things and the source of all life. He is complete and sufficient in Himself and needs neither the world nor anything in it — including man. A.W. Tozer wrote, “God has a voluntary relation to everything He has made, but He has no necessary relation to anything outside of Himself.”
I once heard a well-intentioned preacher say that God created man because He was lonely. Not so! In His perfection, God does not need man’s companionship, love, or even obedience. God is in no way incomplete without us, and yet He freely decided to create the cosmos for His own inscrutable reasons and then redeem a fallen mankind for Himself. I have to admit I find this to be a great mystery!
But I do understand that having been redeemed and given eternal life by God allows us to “know” Him — to experience Him and have a personal relationship with Him. Part of that involves worship. For the time being, we can’t come together week by week as the church in worship, but as we spend time in solitary devotions each day, let us make it also a time of personal worship. It helps if we meditate on who God is — the eternal one who alone exists in Himself — and on what He has graciously done for us in Christ. Our praise and glory of Him will flow more freely.
Regularly take time to meditate on the enormity of God and allow yourself to be in awe: then give Him glory and praise.
Isaiah 57:15 — “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”