Have you ever had an argument with God? A time in the middle of the night when you couldn’t get to sleep because there was a decision or problem on your mind and you felt very conflicted about what your responsibility was in the situation? You might have even come up with several good options, but the question lingered in your mind whether any of those choices were really the right thing to do or say. Perhaps you were even reluctant to give up your fears and insecurities. It seemed in the moment much wiser to trust your own instincts rather than to take that “leap of faith” and believe that God’s direction or call on your life would turn out to be the best. What was the outcome of your debate?
When Moses was in that kind of situation, it was right in the middle of the day. God had come to him in that mysterious burning bush and told him he had a big job for him to do. He was to go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt. In those moments of questioning God’s instructions, God chose to use 2 arguments to help Moses in making his decision. ELOHIM, the God whom the Israelites worshipped, promised that he would be with him and when the job was done that they would be free from the tyranny of the Egyptians and would worship God in that very same place. But Moses wasn’t convinced. He wanted to know how to prove that ELOHIM was The One who had sent him. In those moments, God said there is only one thing that he needed to believe and to communicate and that was that His name was YHWH. “I AM” is the One who has sent you. “I AM” the God who exists, gives life and can bring deliverance, freedom and redemption. YHWH is my name – “I AM WHO I AM”.
YAHWEH has promised the same thing to us through His Son, Jesus. Jesus, which comes from the Hebrew name “Joshua”, meaning “Jehovah is Salvation”, actually means “Savior”. He came to deliver us from the bondage of sin, to redeem us and to be with us. In times of indecision and challenge we know that we can also pray, “Guide me, Oh Thou Great Jehovah!”