Tag: Yahweh

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Trying to escape a calling.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?” Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied. “Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Moses is the classic example of trying to dodge a clear, direct order from God. In Exodus chapter 3, God says, “Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”

“I am sending you,” and “you must,” is pretty straightforward. Moses, having a common, self-reflecting moment, asks God the BIG question. “Who am I?” Wow. That’s a really good question to ask under normal circumstances!

We now live in a saturated milieu of self awareness – it’s expected that one knows their own faults and failures and are also well aware of their ability to harm others. Not everyone is there yet, but the expectation is culturally common. Comments like, “I didn’t know I was a bad mother”, or “I didn’t know I was an alcoholic, are met with suspicious surprise with little sympathy. The underlying idea is “you should have known, everyone else did!”

Did Moses know he had deep traumatic issues that grew into a hair-pin justice trigger, causing him to often snap with rage? Was he aware that his speech impediment was likely caused by his perceived abandonment and identity crisis? Moses question went far deeper than just a question of calling or capability, it hit a nerve of apparent failure to be the kind of man everyone expected him to be. “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” Exodus‬ ‭3‬:‭11‬.

God patiently addressed his question, but doesn’t tell Moses who Moses is or what he will become. God just says, “I will be with you.” Anyone who has struggled with mother or father abandonment issues knows how difficult it is to trust anyone! In Moses’ case, he wasn’t abandoned, because he was supposed to have been murdered by drowning him in the Nile. Moses’ mother, Jochebed, hid him for 3 months, then saved his life by life-rafting him down the river.

In a second volley of trying to get God to just move on and leave him alone, Moses asked God, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” Which is interesting because God already told him who He was, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” causing Moses to pause and reflect on his extraordinary heritage. Moses’ father was Amram, but it’s unclear if Moses ever had a meaningful relationship with him. Moses was a rejected foster son in Pharaoh’s family. Moses boldly asks for God’s name and in that tender moment God tells Moses His personal, intimate name – “Yahweh,” God says.

Yet, even after God tells Moses He will go with him and allow Moses to use God’s personal credentials in an audience with the Pharaoh, Moses is still not convinced – he truly believes God is choosing the wrong man for the job! First it’s I’m not qualified, then it’s no one knows me, now it’s – what if they don’t believe me. Moses questions his convince-ability.

It is here that God allows Moses to have a crutch, a literal shtick, a physical object lesson to carry with him to boost his confidence – the humble shepherd’s staff that becomes a symbol of supernatural power! Moses continued beg God to choose someone else, even reminding Him of his speech impediment. Moses, was not able to get God to completely let him off the hook, but was happy that God allowed his brother Aaron to step in and be the spokesperson.

Prayer

​Dad,
What a journey to convince Moses not only of who he was – a leader, but who he would become, a great patriarch and hero in Your grand story, It seems as though Moses did grow to be a man of great faith, but always carried some of his sorrows and frustrations of his early life as a Jewish foster son in the house of Pharaoh. I see many folk’s trying to escape their calling, even when You assure them that You be will them and use them in the Kingdom of God. Thank you for your patience with all of us!

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Hello, my name is…

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” God replied to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Of course this total scene out of Exodus 3 is a spectacular moment on so many levels. The miraculous meeting between God and Moses out in the middle of nowhere. This actual, physical conversation with God and Moses. Abram also had a conversation with God, 430 years earlier. But unlike Moses, God introduced himself to Abram with one of His attributes, El Shaddai, God Almighty, not a personal name.

God enlists Moses to go before Pharoah and lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses, never forgetting the authority structures of his past life, not only wants to know who he is speaking to, he also wants the Pharaoh to know who he is working for. As an emissary, it would be proper to tell the Pharaoh who he represents. And, when the Israelites demand to know who is speaking on their behalf, Moses would also tell them.

It isn’t unusual for Moses to think, that the Pharaoh or the leaders of the Israelites would have no idea who Moses was at all. “But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”” “God answered, “I will be with you.’” Moses reply still sounds legit. It doesn’t sound dodgy or disrespectful! Okay, so Moses tells the Israelite leaders, “The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,” like some kind of clandestine code phrase. Moses says to God… they still will ask, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?””

Moses is standing barefooted, in front of a supernatural, unconsumed fiery bush, and is having a conversation with THE creator of all things, THE God of gods. And God is so patient with him!

But then, God speaks His name to Moses. God speaks His personal, intimate name for the first time in recorded human history. Granted, we see God’s title and personal name show up in Genesis 2:4, “LORD God” (elohim Yhvh). But this is God introducing Himself and letting Moses know who He is and by what authority He sends Moses in to go before Pharaoh and speak on behalf of His people. What a powerful, beautiful moment.

God says, “this is me, I AM eternal.” Of course we know that Moses needed much more convincing, but God was allowing Himself to be known by Moses and gets really close to knowing the God who walks with man, not in the garden of beauty and perfection, but the desert of desolation and brokenness!

God began a conversation with Moses that would last for 40 years. And it was so unique and precious that God personally buried Moses when he died! “The LORD buried him in a valley near Beth-peor in Moab, but to this day no one knows the exact place.” Deuteronomy 34:6. It is so exciting to think of this kind of life NOW and LATER with God. Now, because of Jesus, we can directly talk to our Abba Father through the Holy Spirit. But later, in a new heaven and new earth, with resurrected brand new bodies, we will walk and talk with Yahweh. As it was in the beginning, it will be in the end that lasts forever!

Prayer

​Dad,
I absolutely love talking with you (and listening too)! To know you, to love you, as well as being known and loved by you is beyond words. I really like the intimacy found in your relationship with well known Bible characters because it shows both who You are as well as who we are. I can’t wait to catch up with each and every one of those moments with those who lived their life ages ago and see Your glory in their lives one day in heaven. Thank you for your loving mercy that allows me to be your son.

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Holy Reintroductions.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“The Lord replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favorably on you, and I know you by name.” Moses responded, “Then show me your glorious presence.” The Lord replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭33‬:‭17‬-‭19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This name of God is incredibly mysterious and intimate. Names have always been significant to me. It bothers me when parents choose their children’s names flippantly, as if their own children were the brunt of a joke or an attempt to make an outlandish statement to everyone that hears it. I feel sorry for today’s teachers having to learn complicated names and strange spellings of names because parents want to be uniquely cute. Hey moms and dads… it’s NOT about you so stop selfishly screwing up your child from day one!

Names have and hold honor or conversely horrible reputations. Moses (to draw out) repeatedly said, “God you know my name,” which alone is a powerful concept. Of course God knows his name! But when one knows that God knows your name and calls out your name is an experience beyond words.

God’s voice, was and is distinctly recognizable, Adam and Eve heard it in the garden (Gen 3:5). And Moses wrote that the couple heard the “voice of the LORD God.” Here, in Hebrew, Moses uses a doubling effect of God’s name, “אֱלֹהִ֑ים יְהוָֹה” elohim Yhvh – Jehovah God. Yhvh means I Am, I be (hayah). Earlier in Exodus 3, God had told Moses who was sending him to Pharoah to demand the release of His people. God said, “tell them “Yhvh” has sent me to you.” Here, many years later, in a much more personal, relational context, Moses pleads with God to STAY. God tells Moses, I will pass before you and speak my name – Yahweh. The Jewish people mistakenly treated God’s name so holy for fear that they would break law #3. They did not want to accidentally take God’s name in vain or be careless so decided they would never speak His name. They strictly forbid anyone from saying or even writing God’s name and forever used a shortcut to refer to Him – the vowels in God’s name were removed and we were left with Yhvh. Scholars best guess, putting the most likely vowels back in use, “Yahweh” or pronounced “Jehovah.”

The point of this dialog with Moses is that God WANTS to be known. God wants us to call out His name! One of most poignant moments in the New Testament is when the religious leaders started forcing Jesus to reveal who he was, only to trap him in what they considered to be blasphemy and they asked him in John 8:56-59, “Who do you think you are?” Jesus replied, “before Abraham was, I am,” our translations use the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew word “eimi: I exist, I am.” Jesus spoke the forbidden use of God’s name and insisted it is not blasphemy if he is in fact THE person of that highly secretive word! God knows our name. God wants us, like the couple in the garden, like Abram, like Moses, even like Lazarus, to hear and recognize his voice and talk with Him.

Prayer

Dad,
Abba, Father, God – I want to know you more. I know you know my name and I want to not only know your name, but everything about you. I want to bear and reflect your name in and through my own life, giving You glory and honor and praise in how I live, how I love. Thank you for your amazing grace to transform my life into something beautiful.

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Short n Sweet.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“Praise the Lord, all you nations. Praise him, all you people of the earth. For his unfailing love for us is powerful; the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever. Praise the Lord!”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭117‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Hebrew, “laud (shabach: commend) Him all you Gentiles!” SHINE (halal: shine) to Yhvh (Yahweh).

God’s was considered to be so holy that it should never be pronounced by human lips. The Jewish priests had the scribes omit the vowels, thus making it difficult to really know how to pronounce God’s name. It is a guess to insert an “a” and an “e” giving us an approximation of Yahweh. The root word is havah: to become, but God himself referred to his name as “I am” (hayah: to fall out, come to pass, become, be), I was, are and will be. The word hallelujah can be seen in the combining of some common words, halal, shine or praise, to hayah (I am).

In Hebrew it is much clearer: Laud Him, Gentiles. Laud Him people of God (Jews), His truth endures and His merciful kindness towards us is great! Laud Him forever. The Psalm is an eternal declaration due from God’s greatest creation – us. That all people, Jews and Gentiles would recognize and extol our creator.

Any notion that creation, especially us as human beings, came from NOTHING is the greatest insult of arrogance ever perpetrated in history. To believe it and proclaim it shows absolute contempt of intelligence and any shred of humanity towards God, who needs no acknowledgement to exist or extend in His mercy. The mere fact that humans are the only ones stupid enough to shun their creator shows us our own ultimate sin of arrogance and ignorance. The Psalmist writes the declaration of truth that everyone seems to pretend can be decided for themselves outside of God. Even in that denial of existence, that defiance of truth, that selfishness, the Apostle Paul writes, while were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Prayer

Dad,
Simply said, we are an embarrassment to ourselves. Creation itself believes and mocks us in our arrogance. What must the angels, created lower than us, even think about our freedoms spurned against you in such a manner? I humbly apologize for our kind. And, I am thankful for your loving kindness and patient mercy as you woo us towards yourself.