אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה

/ehyeh asher ehyeh/(eh-YEH ah-SHER eh-YEH)

hayah: to be, to become, to exist, to come to pass

Ehyeh asher ehyeh resists being pinned down because that is the point: God will not be defined by anything outside Himself. He is not ‘the storm god’ or ‘the mountain god’ or even ‘the God of Egypt’s gods.’ He simply, eternally, is.

From this ‘I AM’ (ehyeh) comes the third-person divine name YHWH (the LORD) in verse 15 – ‘He is,’ ‘He who causes to be.’ Out of reverence, Israel stopped pronouncing YHWH aloud and read ‘Adonai’ (Lord) instead; most English Bibles still print LORD in small capitals to mark the name. The name and the verb are the same root said from two sides: God says of Himself ‘I AM,’ and we say of Him ‘He IS.’

A Fire That Does Not Eat What It Burns

What Do I Tell Them Your Name Is?

Moses wants a name he can use; God gives a name that cannot be used but can be trusted. The name ‘I AM’ is both an unbreachable mystery and a real, personal self-disclosure.

The Self-Existent One Comes Down

Hold two of God’s own sentences side by side and the whole passage opens up. First: “I AM WHO I AM” (verse 14). Second, four verses earlier: “I have come down to rescue them” (verse 8). The first sentence is about who God is in Himself – the One who simply is, who depends on nothing, who was not made and cannot be unmade. He is being itself, while everything else, including that thornbush and including us, is held in existence moment by moment like a flame held in a branch. We are the bush. He is the fire. The second sentence is about what this self-existent One does. He does not stay aloof in His perfection. He says, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people… I have heard them crying out… I am aware of their sufferings.” Seen, heard, aware – three verbs of attention, not distance. The God whose name means He needs nothing has bent His full attention toward slaves making bricks in the mud. The One who could ignore everything chooses to come down. That is the scandal and the comfort of this name: pure, infinite being, moving toward the smallest and most enslaved.

BRIDGE TO CHRIST

HONEST-EXAMINATION

What would change today if you truly believed the God you pray to is not a force you must persuade, but the One who simply IS – and who has already chosen to come down toward your affliction?

1. Where in your life have you stopped expecting anything important to happen, the way Moses had after forty years of sheep? What bush might you be walking past without turning to look?
2. Moses’ first words to God were not a request but a presence: ‘Here I am.’ What would it mean to answer God that simply today, before you ask Him for anything?
3. Have you been treating God’s name as a handle – the right words to get the right outcome – rather than as a Person to trust? What does it free you from to know He cannot be managed?

TAKEAWAY

Today, before you ask God for anything, simply name who He is. Say slowly, once: “You are the One who IS. You came down. You see me.” Let that be the whole prayer for one minute before you add a single request.

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

FURTHER READING

The Shepherd Called from the Fire

Moses