THE PERSONAL NAME OF GOD

EXODUS 3:1–14

Moses said 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?” 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’ ”

(Exodus 3:13–14).

The first thing we notice in this text is so obvious and elementary that it is easily overlooked; that is the fact that God has a name. In contrast, the “unknown god” whose inscription Paul discussed in Acts 17 was a nameless god without form and with darkness upon his face.

The God of contemporary culture

Polls consistently show that 95 percent of all Americans claim to believe in some kind of god. We would describe these people as theists. But often when people are pressed as to the nature of the god they profess to believe in, their answers are ambiguous. Phrases like “supreme being” or “something greater than ourselves” or “the force” are often used to describe the god of contemporary culture.

The polls never ask the specific question, “How many of you believe in the God who thundered from Sinai, ‘You shall have no other gods before Me’? How many of you believe in the God who demands absolute obedience? How many of you believe that our eternal destinies will be determined by His judgment—either eternity in heaven or eternity in hell?” How many people believe in a god like that?

God cannot be tamed

You see, a god without a name is safe. He has no character or personality to make demands or cause us to fear. A god with no face can never manifest his displeasure, his anger, or his absolute right over our lives. A god with no content will never give commands that we must follow. Even though the polls may say we are a theistic people, in many ways we are practical atheists. If the majority is anything to go by, modern man embraces an amorphous god and tends to flee from the God who is named in the Bible.

CORAM DEO

Each of the names of God revealed in Scripture enables believers to know Him more fully. Take time today to list the revealed names of God, the titles of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Enrich your prayer time as you pray to the Holy One of Israel, the Shepherd and Guardian of your soul.

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