THE I AM

Exodus 3:13-14

But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am, I said
I am, I cried
I am...

"I am... I said" written and recorded by Neil Diamond from the "Stones" LP

Proof-texting is a form of biblical interpretation where a verse is taken out of context to make an unrelated point. It's as old as the hills and no matter how irresponsible or how dangerous it is, me just "saying so" is not going to stop proof-texting. This is where I plead guilty to proof-texting myself, but not in the usual way.

Neil Diamond's "I Am...I Said" is the story of a man on his own who is living a pretty good life. He's bi-coastal, he loves LA and he loves NYC, but then he ends up being lost between the shores. In his own way the singer has become a man without a country, a man without a home. He's alone and he's lonely, but into the void that mocks him he cries out, "I am!"

This has nothing to do with The Great I AM.

I mean nothing .

One of the lovely things about the Hebrew Scriptures is that the use of the verb "to be" is limited to the Lord alone. Humans do, God is. Only the Lord is. This is possible because Hebrew has a grammar structure that allows you to say someone is without using the verb "is." English doesn't have anything like that, but Hebrew does. So if we notice there are "I am's" all over scripture for people you're right, but the only time the word "is" is written in Hebrew is when it pertains to the Lord.

Who is the Lord? That's easy, the Lord is. Everything that we can ever associate with being, and more that we can't imagine is wrapped up in the Lord who Is. Neil Diamond's mythological singer is alone in a void--a void of pain, anguish and frustration. For the Lord it's just the opposite. The Lord is in all places and time. The Lord is present. There is no void, the Lord fills the void.

In the Lord we are not as Diamond sings, "I am lost, and I can't even say why." In the Lord, we aren't lost--we're found. We are right where we are supposed to be. We belong to God. We are members of the community of faith. We are right where we are supposed to be.

Thanks be to the Lord who Is.