Exodus 3:14 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.'”
Who’s in charge of your life? “I AM” or “I am”? The contrast between following God’s agenda or our own could not be more drastic.
When God gave Moses the unenviable task of leading his one million people out of Egyptian slavery, Moses reacted with an “I am” mindset… “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11). He had tried forty years earlier to help his Hebrew brothers and failed miserably. What made this time any different?
This time I AM was sending him. God knew Moses was now ready to make the shift from self-dependency to God-dependency. God assured Moses the call was not about him or his capabilities. It was about God working through him. He would be able to accomplish the task because I AM would be with him.
This human fallen tendency to be our own god (I am) is what Oswald Chambers calls the “disposition of sin.” It’s clinging to our right to be in charge. Every decision we make stems from a mindset of either “I AM” or “I am.” When we say, “I am too afraid to use my gifts” or “I am more comfortable when I am in control,” or “I am unwilling to change,” we actually block God’s power. But when we embrace I AM, we let him take the reins of our lives. We surrender our so-called rights to him.
I can pinpoint the time when I made the shift from “I am” to “I AM.” Everything turned upside down. Oh, I believed in Jesus, but somehow my plans always seemed to slip in ahead of his. It’s only when I truly wanted God’s will more than my own, that I discovered the powerful intersection of the two. But I had to first let go of my “I am.” I had to first seek his kingdom. When I did, he gave me more than I could have ever imagined (Matthew 6:33).
Friend, don’t base your life on the limitations of “I am.” Go for abundance. Go for freedom. Go for the great I AM.