From God’s dealings with Moses and Joshua, we learn that God is completely dependable. When He makes a promise, He always fulfills it. We might expect that from observing God’s work in creation. Look at the order of day and night, the regular seasons, and the dependable laws of nature. From the natural world, we can learn about God’s awesome power and creative wisdom (Psalm 8:1-9; 19:1-6; Romans 1:19-20).
But there is much about God’s personality that nature cannot convey. For that sort of detail, God must reveal Himself. He began to do this with Noah, Abraham and Moses. As He sent Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt, God shared His awesome name.
“I AM WHO I AM.”
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 [YHWH], 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 3:14-15)
The Hebrew name YHWH relates to the verb “I AM.” This is the name God gave to Himself to show that He always is. He is eternally alive and eternally present.
Moses was bold enough to ask to see God’s glory. God replied, “You cannot see My face, for man shall not see Me and live” (Exodus 33:20). However, God chose to describe Himself. God placed Moses in a crack in a rock, and passed by declaring,
The LORD, the LORD, [YHWH, YHWH] a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation. (Exodus 34:6-7)