The Open Door

In the Book of Exodus there is a moving account of an encounter Moses has with God. Moses is tending his father-in-law’s sheep and God comes to him in the form of a burning bush. At one point in the encounter, Moses asks God to tell Him his Name. God replies, “I am who I am” (Ex. 3:14). One modern translator renders it, “I will be with you, as who I am, I will be with you.” But no matter how we translate the response God gave to Moses, it remains difficult to understand what God meant. He revealed Himself and yet He hid Himself. He gave Moses an answer, but what kind of a name is this: “I am who I am”? We can only surmise that God is revealing just enough of Himself for Moses to trust Him and to obey His command to go down to Egypt and set the Hebrew children free. Yet, there is in that response a reflection of…