Hardened Heart, God Revealed

“So I said to you, ‘Let My son go that he may serve Me; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.’” Exodus 4:23 [NASB]

In earlier studies of God’s “I am” (anoki/ani) statements in the Old Testament, we learned God told Abram He is his shield (his Protector and King). He told Abimelech, a non-Hebrew, He knew and restrained him (all-knowing and all-powerful). God told Isaac and Jacob He is faithful to His covenant with their ancestor Abraham; He is loving, Blesser, Protector, Keeper, all-knowing, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, transcendent, Provider, and Restorer. He told Moses He would always be with Him, is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is faithful, and deserves worship. In Exodus 3:14-15, God revealed His name for the first time. God told Moses His name is “I AM WHO I AM” (ehyeh asher ehyeh or Hayah or Yahweh). He said He is the self-existent One. God is the eternal God who was, is, and forevermore will be. He is the unchanging, eternal, self-existent One. God continued to speak to Moses in Exodus 4:11-15 by calling him to be His mouthpiece, though Moses felt and expressed his fear of being unable to be His spokesman. He doubted his ability, forgetting God prepares those whom He calls for His service. He reminded Moses He is the all-powerful, all-knowing, Creator who gives people their mouths and makes one able to speak or not. God commanded Moses to go and speak, and He would guide His mouth; He would be His Teacher. Still Moses feared his inability, then God provided a mouthpiece for Moses through his brother Aaron.

The next time God said I AM using anoki or ani was in Exodus 4:23, immediately after He told Moses he would be His mouth and speak to the Israelites. In Exodus 4:21-23, the LORD, Yahweh, told Moses he would perform His wonders before Pharaoh, but He would cause Pharaoh’s heart to harden and not let the Hebrews go. It seems odd that God would cause Pharaoh’s heart to harden against His command to let His people go. Why would God do that? We need to notice, when Moses would speak with Pharaoh, it would be the second time recorded in the Old Testament that God said “I am” to a non-Hebrew. Why is this significant? It shows God is God over all people, not just the Hebrews. He is over all other gods, those that humans create. It shows His care and love for every person. Because God is Creator of all people and things, God cares about everyone and wants them to know (yada) Him and be in a loving, saving relationship with Him. Most importantly, we learn from this passage, God can cause or allow things to happen that seem negative to show His might. He might cause or allow a person to have a hardened heart against Him to show His might over a situation, like the Hebrews’ release when He convinced Pharaoh through the many plagues that He is stronger than him so let His people go. God is greater than any person and created thing.

When a person hardens his/her heart against God that person chooses to be his/her lord over his/her own life. He/she effectively states, “I will do what I want to do no matter what You say, God. Though I hear You, I will ignore You.” Pharaoh considered himself, as his ancestors did, a god of the Egyptians. He felt his word was final, and he was almighty, nothing could go against him. Isn’t that the way we each feel when we choose to do what we want even though we know or sense God prompting us to do something else? In this passage, even before Moses confronted Pharaoh, God told him Pharaoh would say no each time he told him God says, “Let My people go.”

God knew Pharaoh’s heart. He foretold to Moses what would happen. God prepared Moses for Pharaoh’s stubbornness even though He realized it might cause Moses to balk again at speaking to Pharaoh. In this passage, God showed He is all-knowing, faithful, covenant-keeper, all-mighty, and Yahweh. God knows when each of us will be stubborn. He knows us and is prepared to show us Who is Yahweh. God allows us to make our own decisions; that’s free will. Still He doesn’t give up on us but keeps showing Himself to us.

God wants each of us to know and love Him, to be in a saving relationship with Him. He wants us to turn back to Him, to accept His gift of salvation from our sins, and have eternal life with Him. Without God’s saving us from our sins, we would receive the judgment of eternal separation from Him our sins deserve. Every one of us do wrong things in our lives. We each deserve judgment for those sins. God offers us grace from our sins through the atoning sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, who died on the cross.

God knows you. He knows about your hardened heart against Him. Still He calls to you telling you He loves you, wants to forgive you, and wants to have an eternal relationship with you. Will you harden your heart to Him and keep being your own god? There’s no future in that path.

Solomon said in Proverbs 28:13-14:

“The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy. Happy is the one who is always reverent (to Yahweh), but the one who hardens his heart falls into trouble.” [HCSB]

The writer of Hebrews implored people in Hebrews 4:7 when he said, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” [HCSB]

Lord God, I know You are real, though I try to ignore that knowledge at times. I choose to do what I want so many times and often those go against Your moral laws. That makes me my own god. Lord, please forgive me for turning my back on You and ignoring You. Forgive me my stubbornness. Lead me to desire a relationship with You and make me aware of Your glory so that I am overwhelmed and realize you truly are Yahweh. Help me to realize I am just a finite, feeble, created human, but You are Almighty Creator and Savior. Amen.

Yahweh's Anoki Statements

“God, furthermore, said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons 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 this is My memorial-name to all generations.’” Exodus 3:15 (NASB)

In Exodus 3:14, Moses saw a burning bush blaze with flames that did not consume it. It did not burn to ash. His curiosity wanted to see this amazing thing. As Moses approached the flaming bush, God called to him telling him he stood on holy ground. Moses, taught by his mother who wet-nursed him at the request of Pharaoh’s daughter, learned about the God of the Hebrew people, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he learned about the gods of the Egyptians when the hired tutor taught him. Moses was a very educated man. God had a purpose for his life.

In this story, after the burning bush, God told Moses he was the one He chose to send to bring His people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. He told Moses to speak with the Hebrew elders and Moses asked whom should he say sent him to them. Verse fourteen is God’s answer to Moses. God told him to tell the Hebrew elders, “I AM WHO I AM.” This “I am” statement is greater than the anoki studies learned from the book of Genesis. In those passages, God told Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Abimelech about Himself in relation to them. He explained a part of His nature to them. In those passages, God was immanent; He was personal. He gave Abraham a promise of an heir when Abraham grieved the lack of an heir. God added that he would be the father of many descendants and nations. He explained He would be Abraham’s shield-his King, Protector, and faith. For Isaac and Jacob, God reiterated this promise, His covenant, He made with Abraham and added other facets of His nature. He said He would provide for them, be their Victor, and is all-knowing and all-powerful. To Abimelech, not from the line of Abraham, God revealed His knowledge and power. He revealed different facets of His nature to people to help them know Him and/or to deepen their relationship with Him.

The I AM whom Moses encountered in the burning bush was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as He said in Exodus 3:13, & 15-17. God identified Himself to Moses in verse fourteen as I AM WHO I AM. This name comes from the Hebrew clause ‘ehyeh ‘aser ‘ehyeh. “I am the One who is and who will be what you will need” is what this clause means. God’s revealing of His nature, His characteristics, to people with anoki statements in the Old Testament helps define for people who He is and will be for His children whenever they need Him. It’s not that He is becoming more “God,” but He, as part of who He is, will utilize whatever part of His nature and character is needed to rescue, redeem, provide for, heal, and protect, etc. His children. I AM is immanent; He is personal to each human. He cares and so intervenes in the lives of people.

With Exodus 3:15, God answered Moses’ question. Moses asked Him by whom and for what purpose should he tell the Hebrew elders he went to them.  God called Himself I AM. Moses asked for a name. God named himself in verse fifteen. He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons 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 this is My memorial-name to all generations.” Did you catch what God said? He said, “The LORD…This is My name forever.” The Hebrew word translated as LORD in this verse and wherever in the Bible you see LORD written all in capital letters is Yhvh. No one knows exactly how to pronounce this word. The Israelites felt the name of God was so sacred no one should speak or write it, so they noted it with a tetragrammaton. The Hebrew language of the Old Testament did not have vowels in its alphabet, hence the spelling of God’s name with no vowels. English translators of the Old Testament added the vowels, so English-speakers could read the LORD’s name. They wrote it in the Old Testament as Yahweh. In the New Testament, the English translation of the Greek word for LORD is Jehovah. The important thing to remember is God gave Moses His name. He named Himself Yhvh (Yahweh). Most often whenever an Old Testament character spoke about God helping him or her, they spoke about Yhvh, the immanent (personal) God. The One Who is as near to you as your next breath.

Yhvh is the One who interacts with humanity in the Old Testament. He is the one who makes the anoki statements and says, I am your shield to Abraham (Genesis 15:1), I am the God of your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Genesis 26:24 and 28:15), and I know your heart and have kept you from sinning against me (to Abimelech, in Genesis 20:6). Yahweh (Yhvh) used anoki statements when He spoke to Moses in Exodus 3:12,14, & 16-17. In verse twelve, He said He would be with Moses and the Israelites. In verse fourteen, Yahweh told Moses to tell the Israelites He sent Moses to them and would be with them. With verse sixteen, Yahweh told the Israelites and Moses He is the One most concerned about them. Yahweh revealed His nature to Moses in verse seventeen as the Deliverer/Savior/Redeemer and Provider.

In each of these verses, Yahweh made the anoki (I am) statements that revealed to humanity another part of His nature/character. These individual parts of his character did not singly define Him. Yahweh is the whole of His being. He is self-existing, or as translated by the Jews, He is the “existing One.” Yahweh was before time was created, is now, and will be after time ends. He defines time, which is His creation, just as He defines what is human, cow, serpent, earth, star, moon or any other created thing. Yahweh has always been and will always be. He made “I am” statements to Old Testament people to reveal Himself to them to begin, restore, or grow a relationship. Yahweh, our Elohim (God), draws people to Himself because He desires to have a relationship with us. His character of love shows the different parts of His nature (to provide, keep, protect, save, redeem, forgive, lead, etc.) to people.

God is holy. His love is pure. Humanity is tainted by self-interest and self-serving to the extent we do things against other people and God to get what we want. This selfishness is sin and creates a wall between Yahweh and us because He is holy, and we are not. Holiness and sin cannot be in the same place. Because of that, God provided from the beginning of time a way for humanity to receive cleansing from sin and unholiness. The way He provided was through the sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus, as the judgment for and cleansing of our sins. Yahweh loves us enough to provide this self-sacrificing gift, so we can be in a relationship with Him.

The apostle John said, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) God did that for humanity, for all people. Yahweh, the always “existing One”, desires to be in a relationship with you. He has revealed Himself to you through the Bible, teaching, preaching, and in personal (immanent) ways. These personal ways are like when He provides you a job and food, or keeps you safe in hazardous situations, or protects your reputation, or gives you a family. God shows Himself to each of us personally for each of our individual needs through the different attributes of His nature. He has been in your life providing, protecting, leading, gifting, etc, hoping you would see Him and desire to be in a relationship with Him. These were His anoki statements to you. Yahweh made it possible. Will you accept His love, forgiveness, and salvation? God is waiting for you to open the door to your heart and life to Him.

God, so often I have worked hard to give myself something or provide for my family. I have not recognized you as Yahweh, the existing One who loves me and wants a relationship with me. I have not recognized You as the One who has given me everything I have, protected me, and guided me. I have taken all the glory and praise. You have made Your anoki statements in my life and I have not listened to You. Please forgive me for my self-centeredness. Forgive me for my sins and keeping my back turned to You. Lead my heart so I desire a relationship with You. Teach me how to grow more like You. Lord, I surrender myself and all I have to You.

I AM, the Eternal Victor

We each come to a point in our lives, actually many points in our lives, when we must decide if we will let our circumstances get us “down.” For some people, death seems to take them “down.” Others face illness or a diagnosis they didn’t expect, and that gets them “down.” Possibly losing a job or not getting a promotion will cause a person to be “down.” For other people, not finding a spouse or being childless can make a person feel “down.”

A whole host of things in life confront us and we get to decide how they will affect us. Notice I said, “We get to decide how they will affect us.” That doesn’t mean I am immune to feeling trampled by life because of illness, death, dark thoughts, lack of family or love, or any of thousands of other non-happy things in life. It means at this place in my life, at least for today, I can say my situation has not made me feel “down.” For me to admit that is a major step in my faith journey. Yes, I have been through difficult times without feeling pummeled before, but they were few. Still, the times of feeling “down” because of circumstances are becoming farther apart. As I pondered that today, I have come to conclusions.

God has been busy teaching me the last year or two that circumstances don’t define Him, but He defines circumstances. This year, He began teaching me more, and I am just at the start of this learning experience. God is teaching me about Himself as He revealed Himself to the people of the Old Testament using the Hebrew word anoki, meaning “I am.”

Any of us who has ever read about Moses and the burning bush thinks, “I know this one!” But maybe you don’t. The I AM God who spoke to Moses does not come from the Hebrew word anoki, but is significant. As I’ve said, I have only begun to study where God says anoki and have finished reading through Genesis. Each time God said anoki in the six instances in Genesis, He revealed something about Himself, about His nature, how we can relate to Him, and how He helps us because of that particular characteristic or nature.

To Abraham in Genesis 15:1, God said, “I am your shield.” He meant He is and would be Abraham’s King, Protector, and faith. Abraham could draw faith from God, the Source of faith, and could rely on God to protect and provide for him. He would also be able to go on the defense or offense in obedience to God because God is His King and Protector. God gives Abraham his shield to do battle for Him and to protect him from harm in a defensive battle just as Paul taught in Ephesians 6 with the armor of God.

To Abimelech in Genesis 20:6, God said, “I know you and I kept you.” God knew Abimelech, his heart as well as his actions and thoughts. He knew Abimelech better than Abimelech knew himself. God is all-knowing and all-powerful. He kept Abimelech from sinning against Him, Abraham, Sarah, and himself even when he didn’t realize what he had thought to do would be a sin. God is as close as our next breath and is transcendent knowing the big picture and able to keep things from happening. He protects us from ourselves and from harm by other people. Remember, Abimelech told Abraham what God revealed to him and so Abraham learned, too, that God is all-knowing and the one who is all-powerful and can keep people from sinning.

To Isaac in Genesis 26:24, God reiterated His revelation of Himself to Abraham, Isaac’s father. He reminded Isaac He is with him by saying He is his father’s God-the King, Protector, source of faith, faithful One, all-knowing, and all-powerful. He adds to this promise for Isaac what He didn’t tell Abraham. God told Isaac not to fear. Lack of fear is assumed when God is immanent. Immanence means God is always with you; He is near. Still, sometimes we people need to hear “do not fear.” Isaac needed to hear that. The king of the Philistines, because Isaac’s people and possessions had become large, asked him to leave their land. They filled in the wells Isaac’s men dug. As Isaac’s people moved on, the herdsmen of the Philistines kept fighting over the wells Isaac’s people dug so that Isaac kept having to move on and felt threatened. Then one night, God met with Isaac and told him, “Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you, and will multiply your descendants, for the sake of my servant Abraham.” When faced with enemies or bad situations over and over, sometimes we need to hear God’s reassurance we need not fear. God is faithful to His promises, and He has it all under control. He is faithful, loving, protector, keeper, all-knowing, all-powerful, and the God of Abraham, your father. Who can be afraid when confronted with this nature of God?

To Jacob in Genesis 28:15, God reminded him He is immanent, protector, and faithful. At this point in his life, Jacob was afraid. As the second-born son, he had just been part of the trickery to steal the birthright of the firstborn son from his twin brother, Esau. Esau had a fiery temper and Jacob was afraid. His father, Isaac, told him not to marry a woman from among the Canaanites, but to return to Paddan-aram, the birth home of his grandfather, Abraham. To get there, he would likely cross territory in which Esau lived. God calmed Jacob with a vision of a ladder that reached from the ground to heaven with angels descending and ascending on it. At the top of the ladder God stood and told Jacob, “I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” All the lessons Abraham and Isaac taught Jacob and Esau about God and His nature, God reiterated in this dream. He added another element to His faithfulness. God’s faithfulness to Abraham and Isaac, and His covenant with them meant He must provide for the bodily needs of Jacob and Abraham’s other descendants. Besides protecting, God would feed, clothe, give water, and provide a wife for him. He would bring him to the land He promised his fathers before him. God said He would not leave him until He had done what He promised. This statement was the prelude to God’s statement to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 3:16 when He told them He would not leave them or forsake them.

With Genesis 35:11 and 46:3-4, God reminded Jacob He is almighty; nothing can thwart His plans or purposes. He commanded Jacob to be fruitful and multiply. God promised from him nations and kings would come. Even though hard times would fall on them, God could still make a great nation come from Jacob. He said He was immanent to Jacob and would protect Him and His offspring, provide for them, and would remain faithful to His covenant to him and his fathers. Even though Jacob and his descendants would walk through the valley (Egypt), God would surely be with them. He invested greater immediacy with this latter set of verses to give Jacob greater courage and conviction to go to a foreign land, walk through an unknown place, and have faith in Him.

For each of these men, as for most people of Bible times, continual verbal retelling of history relayed history from one generation to the next. It was an oral society, not a literate society. Abraham relayed to Isaac and his descendants who God is, what He promised to him, and how He intervened in his life. Isaac, Jacob, and each descendant afterwards carried on this oral tradition. Sometimes God reminded the next generation who He is with another anoki statement. Sometimes He revealed something new about Himself to the person to whom He spoke.

Why does God reveal Himself and His nature to people? Because He wants us to seek Him with all our hearts and find Him. God wants to have a relationship with us. He wants to be our faith, Protector, King, Provider, Keeper, Blesser. He wants us to know Him immanently and to know He is transcendent. God wants us to trust Him. He wants us to know Him. That’s yada knowing, experiential knowing so we know Him with our heart, soul, and mind. God wants us to realize at all times-before, during, and after difficult times-He is with us, knows us, protects us, strengthens us, loves us, keeps us, blesses us, and is all-powerful.

God revealed Himself with the anoki statements, the “I am” statements, in the Old Testament. He revealed His nature and by doing that He revealed to our finite minds how we can understand and relate to Him. More important than these “I am” statements and our holding on to this God of love, protection, omniscience, and omnipotence, is the God Moses first came to know. Moses encountered Elohim God the first time in the burning bush and God commissioned him to go to Egypt to bring His people out of slavery there to His Promised Land. He asked Elohim, “And who shall I say sent me?” (Exodus 3:13) God told Moses to tell them, “I AM WHO I AM. That is what you are to say to the Israelites. I AM has sent me to you.” (Exodus 3:14) This statement by God of who He is carries more weight than any of the anoki statements. God’s description of Himself includes and goes beyond all the characteristics He reveals to people. I AM is the One Who was, is, and always will be. Understand this. I AM is eternal!

With this understanding that God is before, during, and after time, we gain a new, fresher, and more accurate perception of our particular situations, our troubles, the things that make us feel “down.” Keeping our eyes on God eternal-almighty, all-knowing, faithful, Protector, Provider, Lover of our souls, King, faith, Blesser, Covenanter, immanent, transcendent, Savior-changes our perspective. If our God is for us, who can be against us. (Romans 8:31) Better yet, with our God for us, nothing can beat us. Whether we are sick or well, rich or poor, smart or not, big or small, old or young, God is the same. Circumstances do not define God; He defines them. When Elohim is your God, nothing can defeat you. God already has won the victory. Because of this, you can face difficult days without being “down.” You are not defeated because God has won the victory for you.

“Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear NO evil, for Thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff comfort me.  Thou preparest a table for me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Psalm 23 is not a death song. It is a victory song.

Lord, so often I fall prey to the victim mindset. Forgive me for giving up on myself and You. Forgive me for mentally allowing my situation to define You. Nothing defines You. Help me to remember You define my circumstances. Help me not to give up or get “down,” but to give praise and testimony for You, I AM, what You have done and what You will do. Help me keep my eyes on You in faith. I am trusting You in my situation today. Amen.

Knowing Protector

“Then God said to him in the dream, ‘Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore, I did not let you touch her.’” (Genesis 20:6 [NASB])

With God’s “I am” statements of the Old Testament and Jesus’ “I am” statements in the New Testament, especially in the gospel of John, God teaches us about Himself, about His nature. When people speak of themselves using “I” statements, they tell us about themselves, too. In Genesis 15:1, God told Abram He is his shield. He used the Hebrew word anoki for “I am.”  Bible writers used the word anoki three hundred fifty-nine times in the Old Testament to tell people about God and other people. In Genesis 15:1, the shield God equates to Himself, as in Ephesians, is Abram’s faith. It, by metaphorical connection, is Abram’s protection offensively and defensively. By God saying He is Abram’s shield, He meant He is his King, too. By telling Abram He is his King, Protector, and faith, Abram could have confidence and faith that what God said would happen, i.e. His promise of Abram having a host of descendants, would occur.

In Genesis 20, God tells us, and Abimelech, more about Himself and His nature. What did God tell Abimelech, Abraham, Sarah, and us about Himself with the two “I am” (anoki) statements in this chapter? Let’s recap this story quickly then look at God’s anoki statements in verse six.

Abraham’s wife, Sarah, was very beautiful. Abraham felt any man would kill him to have her for his wife and/or in his harem, so he told Sarah to tell whoever asked that she was his sister. In fact, Sarah was both his wife and sister. She had the same father as Abraham, but a different mother, so they would not have lied by saying she was his sister. It was not the whole truth though. The truth was that God gave them a joint promise to have many descendants through their marriage union, so in His eyes, they were husband and wife. Sarah was dutiful, and several times she and Abraham told kings and other men she was his sister. On this occasion in Genesis 20, they told this partial truth to Abimelech, the King of the Philistines in Gerar. Abimelech felt, since Sarah was Abraham’s sister, he could take her and put her in his harem. God had something to say about that. He did not say it to Abraham and Sarah directly. God spoke to Abimelech in a dream telling him He would judge him to death for stealing another man’s wife. Abimelech protested in his dream he had not touched Sarah and pleaded for himself and his nation by appealing to God’s justness. God explained He knew what Abimelech said was true. He explained He had kept him from touching Sarah, but now he had to do what He said and return Sarah to Abraham. Abimelech confronted Abraham the next day about his relationship to Sarah and his causing him to sin against Sarah, him, and God. He returned Sarah to Abraham along with gifts to appease his conscience, prove his innocence, and vindicate himself before people.

This story is interesting in several ways. God spoke to a person not of Abraham’s line. He spoke through a dream. God revealed Himself and His nature to people. He set a standard of obedience even to people who came not from Abraham’s line. Consider closer God’s “I am” (anoki) statements in this chapter.

God used anoki twice in verse six. He said to Abimelech in a dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore, I did not let you touch her.” First, note God spoke to the king in a dream, a way common to the people of the area. God speaks even to people who do not believe in Him. He is Creator of all things, people included, and wants a relationship with each person, not just Jews and Christians. God knocks on the heart’s door of each person. This passage shows that even before Paul spoke about Christ coming for the uncircumcised and circumcised God seeks a personal relationship with every person.

The “I am” statements God used in verse six speak volumes. He said, “I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this.” This word “know” comes from the Hebrew word yada. Yada is an experiential knowing. First you see a person, then you hear about that person. Next you learn of the person then personally speak with him or her. Finally, you begin to seek the person as part of your every day life and get to know him or her very closely. This kind of knowing is most often experienced in our relationships in getting to know a person who becomes our husband or wife, or our best friend(s). It equates to our relationship with Jesus Christ, too. God used the word yada when He told Abimelech “I know the integrity of your heart.” God knows each person; He knows their heart. He knows each of us better than we know ourselves. We can hide nothing from God. God knew Abimelech had not yet slept with Sarah even before he protested he had not touched her. He knew Abimelech’s integrity would not let him sleep with another man’s wife. God’s statement to Abimelech meant He knew Abimelech-his heart, his spirit, his mind, and his strength. God knew Abimelech intimately even though he was not of the line of Abraham. He created Abimelech and had kept up with him daily because God is intimate; He is imminent. God is right here with our next breath. He is not just out there somewhere watching over all things in a big intangible way. God is transcendent; He orders and cares for the world on a macro level because He cares for His creation. God is both immanent and transcendent. He knows people intimately, and He keeps things orderly. With God’s first “I am” statement, He told Abimelech He is all-knowing. He knew Abimelech intimately, and He knew the situations of the world around him.

In the second “I am” statement of verse six, God told Abimelech, “I also kept you from sinning against Me.” This verb “kept” comes from the Hebrew word chasak and means to hold back, restrain, and withhold. Without Abimelech knowing Yahweh God as his God, God knew Abimelech and cared intimately about him, so He restrained him from sinning against Him, Abraham, Sarah, and himself-his integrity. Sinning is not just harming the person whom you go against. It affects each relationship a person has. Besides this, any sin is an act of unrighteousness and unrighteousness is an action against God who is righteous. This was not the main message God had for Abimelech in this part of verse six though. God explained to Abimelech He is all-mighty and able to keep him from sinning even though he did not know God intimately or recognize Him as his God. God cared enough about Abimelech that He did not want him to wreck his relationship with Abraham and Sarah before it began. He did not want him to cause confusion within himself and undermine his own integrity. God also did not want Abimelech to sin against Him even though he did not know Him as his God.

In these two “I am” statements, God revealed to Abimelech, Abraham, Sarah, and later Bible readers, including us, that He is all-knowing (omniscient). He knows us intimately because He created us and has been with us closely (imminently) every day of our lives. God knows us better than we know ourselves. God also revealed He is all-powerful (omnipotent). He can stop us from harming ourselves and other people, and our relationship within our self, with other people, and with Him without us even knowing Him intimately. He is God over all things and people. When we know, yada, God, He gives us His power not to fall to temptation and sin. He also gives us the knowledge we need for each situation. God is the fount of knowledge and power.

These two “I am” statements do not end this story. God reveals Himself to us, relates to us, and gives us power over temptation, but we must act upon it. In verse seven, God commanded Abimelech to act upon what He revealed to him. Because God gives each person freewill to obey Him or not, Abimelech did not have to obey God’s command. What did God command Abimelech to do? “Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” God explained He knew Abimelech’s heart of integrity. He told Abimelech He gave him the power to keep his hand from Sarah. God explained who He is with this dream. He acknowledged and appealed to Abimelech’s integrity. God then commanded Him to act upon that integrity with His power and do righteousness by restoring Sarah to her God-given husband. Abimelech could have said, “No.” Still his integrity and God’s stated judgment of him and his household if he did not obey led him to obey God. Abimelech acted obeyed God with God’s power. He went beyond what God required and gave to Abraham a vindication payment to prove his integrity and prove he had not touched Sarah. Abimelech gave Abraham any land in his kingdom he wanted and invited him to be a part of his nation.

God is all-knowing. He knows more about us than we do and even knows those parts we think we have kept hidden from Him. God is all-powerful. He can keep us from sinning even when we do not have a close relationship with Him. God wants to have a relationship with each person, not just with the Jews or the people from Abraham’s line. God created every person. He wants a relationship with every person. God wants to give us His power to overcome temptation and sin to keep us righteous. In being made righteous, our relationships with people, with ourselves, and with Him remain faithful and pure. God keeps our hands and hearts from sinning if we will accept and use His power to withstand temptations.

We each have a choice like Abimelech. God has revealed Himself to us today. He has shown us His power and makes it available to us to fight temptation. Will we be obedient to Him, accept His power, and be in a righteous relationship with Him?

God provides the way to a right relationship with Him through the salvation He offers by His Son, Jesus Christ’s, death and resurrection.

Will you accept God’s gift of salvation from your sins and have an intimate relationship with Him?

God, I have tried to live a good life. I know I haven’t always done the right thing because I want to take care of myself. Please forgive me for choosing myself and my ways over You and Your ways. Help me realize and live knowing You love and know me intimately, so I can trust in You implicitly. Help me accept Your gift of salvation and live with Your power each day so I can remain in a right relationship with You, other people, and myself. Amen.

Shield and Blessing

“After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying, ‘Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great.’” Genesis 15:1 (NASB)

As a prelude, let’s remember what had happened in Genesis 14. In that chapter, four kings of the southern part of Canaan went into battle against five other kings. In the process of this battle, King Chedorlaomer of Elam and the other three kings of this alliance took Lot, Abram’s nephew, captive along with his possessions. When Abram heard about this, he pursued the kings with his men and defeated them. He returned with Lot and all his possessions including the women and people. The king of Sodom, the place where Lot lived, offered a reward to Abram of the goods he rescued. Abram lived up to his vow to God not to take anything from this king for himself. Abram showed his desire was not more wealth, but the LORD God. God would bless him with his greatest earthly desire.

Abram explained what this desire was in chapter fifteen, an heir from his own body. Before God told him of His blessing, He spoke of something Abram and all people of the LORD would need. God told Abram not to fear, and He is his shield. In actuality, He said not to fear because He is his shield. Why is this significant? Why did God say it before He proclaimed His blessing on Abram?

In reading Genesis 15:1, God told Abram He is his shield. A shield’s purpose is to deflect the swords and other offensive weapons of war, such as arrows, darts, pikes, and claymores. A shield, as an offensive weapon, allows a soldier to punch an opponent like a metal fist and to trap the opponent’s sword hand and weapon against his body. Soldiers rely on their shields heavily. From Ephesians 6:16, we learn the shield from the “armor of God” equates to faith by which to combat what Satan throws at us. Interestingly, in Genesis 15, before God told Abram he would have an heir and numerous descendants, He told Abram that He is his shield, his faith. He does not tell him to have faith, but that He is his shield (of faith). Believe in God. Trust in Him. Faith is belief and trust in someone or something. Abram’s faith is God, and is from God. Faith is having confidence in what or who you know. In Genesis 15:1, God meant as you have learned to trust Him, believe Him because of your relationship with Him. He said this before He revealed His plan to grant Abram’s deepest desire-to have an heir from his body. Abram’s heir did not come immediately. He would need to remember God’s promise, His covenant, to Him. Abram would need to remember God is his shield, his faith. He could trust, believe, and have confidence that what God said would come true.

God reminds each of us to have faith in Him often before situations and people test our faith. Abram’s faith experienced testing several times before God’s appointed heir was born to him. Abram and his wife Sarai doubted God’s promise and tried to create his heir through Sarai’s maid, Hagar. From Abram’s and Hagar’s union, Ishmael was born (Genesis 16). Later, Abram and Sarai had a son of their own whom they named Isaac. Through God’s promise to Abram and His promise to be his shield-his faith-we can learn to trust/believe/have confidence in God, and His truths and promises. Just as God did with Abram, often God reminds us of Who He’s been for us and what He’s done for us before a trial occurs. Then, just as Abram received God’s blessing, we will get through and receive God’s blessing. We who believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior know God and from our knowledge of Him in our lives, in the Bible, and the testimony of His people, realize God is always faithful and we can have continued faith in Him.

He is our shield. He is our blessing.

Oh Lord, be my shield when trials come my way. Forgive me when my faith falters. It’s not that I don’t believe in You, but that I have allowed my situation to become greater in my mind than You. Nothing is greater than You. Please lift me up and restore my faith so I do not fail You and so that I grow into a deeper relationship with You. Amen.