The phrase "I am" has powerful connotations

 

“I think, therefore I am.” – Rene Descartes.

“I am, I said.” – Neil Diamond.

“I am what I am, and that’s all that I am” – Popeye.

The phrase “I am” has some powerful connotations. We use it all the time – “I am going to the store” or “I am washing dishes” or “I am thinking.” It’s a definitive statement of present tense, of what “I am” doing right now, this moment.

It’s also the name God gave to Himself.

This was back in the book of Exodus, when Moses was coming up with all these excuses as to why he could not go back to Egypt – where, he believed, he might rightfully be wanted for murder – to free God’s people.

Moses says to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

It wasn’t just Pharoah that Moses was concerned about; he couldn’t help but wonder if the people he was being sent to rescue wouldn’t believe God sent him; why would they? Would you?

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (This is all in Exodus 3).

“I am” is a phrase to say “this is what I am doing at this moment.” It is a statement of present tense.

As a name of God, it is the ultimate statement of present tense; of self-sufficiency, self-existence, and immediate presence. What I believe God is saying is He is the eternal present tense. No matter when or where, God is saying “I Am here.” In a very real sense, God is always “living in the moment.”

That’s not bad advice for us, to live in the moment, to be present in the here and now. But it can be difficult for us to do. We get so bogged down in the past, or paralyzed by how we envision the future. Often, we seem to live more in the past or the future than in the present, in the “now.”

Not that there isn’t value in remembering. I have some great memories that cause me to smile, or feel loved, or help me navigate what is happening now.

Not that there isn’t value to looking to the future. Where would we be without some kind of plan, whether it’s as simple as “What am I going to do today?” or as complex as “Where do I want to be in 10 years?”

But there is something to be said for being able to live in the present tense, to not letting myself be discouraged by things that have happened that I can’t change, or fearful of the things that might happen.

I wonder if it would not be better for us to remember that God is in this moment. He doesn’t have a past, or a future. For God, who is outside of time, everything is right now. It’s a difficult concept to fully grasp, because we are time-bound creatures. But somehow God is beyond time, outside of time. Everything is “right now” for God. He is “I AM.”

And how much less stressful would my life be if I could live that way, to not be limited by what I can’t change and not be worried about what has not happened yet? Yesterday’s mistake does not need to keep me from today’s success; yesterday’s success may not help me overcome today’s problem.

“I AM” is a powerful concept. We don’t have to be afraid because fear relates to what happened in the past or what may happen in the future. “I AM” says all I can do about anything is right now, in this present moment.

Somewhere I read that life is like air. We breathe it in and out every moment. Generally speaking, it’s no good if we take in a lungful of air and don’t exhale it to take in another. To stay alive, I must keep breathing, in and out. I can’t worry that the previous breath may be my last and try to hold on to it and never let it go, because eventually that will kill me. I can’t be afraid that there will not be another breath for me to take. All I can do is breathe.

So, as much as I am able, I want to live, in a sense, like God: in the present. It’s kind of like the old “WWJD” – What Would Jesus Do; that question we are supposed to ask ourselves in every decision we make.

Obedience is actually only possible in the present tense. I think it’s impossible to obey God in any other moment than the present. We can’t do anything about not obeying Him in the past; the future has not happened, so we can only obey God right now, in the present tense. In the “I am.”

Maybe that’s why the Bible always emphasizes the “now” of obedience. “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:7–8). “Choose you this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15).

I need to recognize that God is here with me, in the present. He says His name is “I AM;” that “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (in Deuteronomy 31:6 and again in Hebrews 13:5); that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8).

I need to live knowing that right now is the most important moment, because God is right now in this moment. Rather than asking “What should be happening?” I need to ask, “What is happening? God, what are You doing right now? Show me so that I can see it and be in the moment with You.”

I like the way John Newton used his “I ams:”

“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.”

Right now. Because I can’t live in any other moment.