The Great I Am is the topic in this article.
Then Moses said to God, If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, What is his name? what shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM. And he said, 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, The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. (Exodus 3:13-15 ESV)
God Is Holy in the Complete Sense of the Word. God is totally without sin. Sin is conflict with His very nature; He cannot tolerate sin. We are called to imitate that holiness. “For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44).
God Is to be Honored and Glorified.
For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; And holy is his name. And his mercy is unto generations and generations on them that fear him. He hath showed strength with his arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their heart. He hath put down princes from their thrones, And hath exalted them of low degree. The hungry he hath filled with good things; And the rich he hath sent empty away. (Luke 1:49-53 ASV)
Jesus began His model prayer for His disciples: “Hallowed be Thy name.” God is far above mankind. We should approach Him, and even though we do so boldly (Hebrews 4:16), we must come with honor and respect.
God Is to be Loved. It is interesting that the Scriptures clearly teach us to love the Lord with all of our hearts, and the clearest statement about how that is done is actually made by Jesus in John 14:15 ESV. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” We should love God so much that we will do whatever He tells us to do. Satan claimed that Job only loved God for what He did for him; God proved that Job could love Him for no reason at all, except faith and reverence.
God Is Both Good and Severe. “Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off” (Romans 11:22). God’s wondrous promises of reward and good will be fulfilled without fail. We can be “standing on the promises” because they will not fail. On the other hand, God’s promises of punishment have always been fulfilled (see Israel of old), and will be fulfilled. God is “longsuffering toward us” but the judgment will come upon those who fail to obey the Gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8).
God Cares about Me. “…casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7 NKJV). God does care about me. Even though I am sinful and seemingly insignificant in this great universe, God knows me, and cares about me. His expectation is that I return that caring and concern, and follow in His paths to righteousness and heaven.
God is now, has always been and will always be The Great I Am. May we prayerfully and carefully look to this Majestic Creator of all that is, and may we humbly bow before Him in spirit, attitude and action. May we hold Him up in our hearts as The Great I Am, to Whom we are indebted for our very existence and hope for eternity. May we love Him, obey Him and spread His message to a lost and dying world. “How Great Thou Art” is a song that should ring true in our relationship to Him, forevermore, world without end.
