Who am I?

The Official Newsletter of Today's Christian Magazine
Friday, February 02, 2007

"But who am I?"

They were the first words out of his mouth when, standing before the burning bush, Moses learned of God's overwhelming plans for him. And often they're the first words we utter when, kneeling before God in prayer, we sense His calling us to embark on an impossible ministry—or meet one of our world's staggering needs.

"What can I do to make a difference?" we ask. "I'm only one person!"

Andrea Bianchi,Newsletter EditorToday's Christian Weekly


I read this item the other day and decided to go back and review the other side of that conversation at the burning bush. It struck me that the real brilliance of the whole event comes not from his many questions and lame excuses, but God's amazing answers and generous provisions beginning with "I will be with you," and "I AM who I AM."

Now I'm sitting here praising the God of wonders who not only calls, but promises His presence and then empowers us to keep going.

I heard a wonderful worship song at a thriving church in Oregon in November. Part of the lyrics ask the same question,

Who am I that thou art mindful of me? That you love me?

And is it true? Is it true that you are thinking of me, that you hear me, when I call?

It’s amazing! I am a friend of God!

I am a friend of God, He calls me friend!

Though it seems only right that I should ask such questions, it's more of a stretch to think that Moses would have felt so insecure. After all, Scripture tells us that God spoke to him face to face as a man speaks to his friend! Yet, we are told that he was the meekest man on the face of the earth.

But, who am I? Anyone remember the 70's? People left home in droves, okay in rainbow-painted Volkswagons, to discover the answer to that question. But when Moses asked it, he wasn't seeking fulfillment or self-realization. His was the honest question of a man who couldn't believe that the mighty God of Creation was stooping to his level. His was the amazed, humbled response of a man who was little in his own eyes. He felt unworthy.

One thing about that Moses, he knew he didn't deserve God's blessing. Having murdered an Egyptian, he had run away to live in self-imposed exile for forty long years. No longer impressed with himself, this former prince of Pharoah had become a simple goatherder on the back side of the desert.

In other words, just the sort of man God delights to favor! He opposes the proud and uplifts the humble. At last, here was someone He could use. Yet, what pleases God is not only that we confess truth and realize our own limitations, but take it to the next level. We must believe and humbly accept his divine provisions.

Don't you love how God turns our questions around? The "am I?" became the great "I AM".

The Lord God calls us to lift our eyes away from ourselves and all our shortcomings. In the end, it's not about us at all. Our focus needs to be on trusting who He is, and receiving his answers to our needs.

For the next forty years, Israel would labor through the school of hard knocks to learn these things. Some of their exams included the diet of manna, water from a rock, giants in the land, and snakes at their heels. It wasn't easy, but the Lord provided.

The more impossible the situations, the more incredible and evident His power. Quail fell three feet deep and twenty miles around them when they thought he was incapable of giving them meat in the wilderness! Is God's arm ever short? These are the very circumstances that gave him the glory.


God, forgive me. I keep slacking back into self-reliance, as if to say that I can do everything in my own strength. I keep thinking that it's what I do, or can do, or should do more, to meet my needs. But I can't!

The answer to the who question (as in, who am I?) is, nobody special. But what Moses should have asked is, who am I with? Certainly the next part is the best part, when God answered and promised His own presence. The best parts of the story are when He proved the mighty power of his hand.

The Lord, who does not change, still says it to us today. Lo, I will be with you! And I AM who I AM!

Yes Lord, help me never to forget that You are the great provider. It is only in your presence and strength that anything of lasting value can be accomplished.

All the rest is sheep dung in the dessert.