GUEST BONUS BLOG
My husband, Duane, had to write a journal entry for his class at Multnomah University, where he is a student. What he wrote fits in so well with what we're talking about that I thought I'd add a Bonus Blog this week, written by my favorite (and only!) husband, Duane Tucker. Enjoy!
Cora, my wife, is writing a
personal blog as she is studying and preparing to teach at a women’s retreat
this fall. Her chosen topic is on the
promises of God and how they apply to the believer. Some of the promises in the Bible do not
apply to Christians, like the promise to Sarah to give birth to Isaac at her
advanced age. However, there are other
verses in the Bible like Hebrews 13:5, which are promises for everyone who
believes in Jesus Christ. These promises
are because God is Sovereign and it is His prerogative to grant us His Grace
and Mercy as He chooses. The Apostle
Paul is always brought to mind, when he cried out to God to grant him his
petition to have the ‘thorn in his side’ removed. God’s choice was to say no and leave it there
so Paul would have to rely on Him for his strength and faith. That promise of “My grace is sufficient for
you” is the kind of promises she is seeking out as these promises relate to
God’s sovereignty. Therefore, it was
with great excitement that in the book, A Survey of Israel’s History by
Leon J. Wood, God’s name was explained to a greater understanding about His sovereignty. On page 97, Woods writes:
He
also gave Moses the name of God that he was to tell the Israelites (Ex
3:13-14). Translated “I AM,” it is the
first-person form of the verb hayah
(“to be”), the verb from which (in the third person) the name Yahweh comes. The simplest understanding of the meaning of
this name is “I am”—or, in the form Yahweh,
“He is.”
Various
attempts have been made at explaining its significance, but the best seems to
be a promise of God’s faithful presence with His people.
The footnote added additional
information that added more excitement to the quote as it explained that in the
name Yahweh it renders to the
definition of “I am the God who will be there,” stressing the name as a promise
of God’s dynamic, active presence.”
The excitement is the name of God,
as it is a promise to be in the life of the believer, always. As the name “I AM” by its very inference
says, God was before time, God is here with us in time, and God is after
time. This is still a concept that is
difficult in getting a grip on or comprehending. So use the analogy of holding your hands,
palm up, & side by side, then look at them as God might see them. In those hands, “I AM” created time. He started time, He knows the end of time, so
He knows what happens at every point in time, because “I AM” created time. Try to wrap your mind around that, and then say
you do not think God is Sovereign. Right
…
