When Moses asked God what His name was, the reply was, “I am that I am.”
If you have a Bible with some decent footnotes, you’ll see that there are a few other ways of understanding the original Hebrew phrase. Other renderings include “I am who I am,” “I will be what I will be,” and “I am what I am.” (And you almost can’t help but to think of Popeye’s famous, “I yam what I yam!”)
Grammatically, the root of this phrase is the Hebrew verb, “to be.” In most translations, the word is read as “I am.” In English, we call this “present tense,” in that it indicates an action happening right now.
However, notice the alternates given in many Bibles have “I will be.” This, in English, is called the future tense, and has the sense of something that has not completely happened yet. Though He is present now, God is not finished with the world. He both is, and will be.
There is an ancient Hebrew phrase describing God as the One “who was, who is, and who is to come,” inspired by this ambiguity.
The “was” reminds us of the stories of God’s great acts from creation through all the stories of the Bible, through the countless ways He has touched people of all generations.
The “is” affirms His presence with us right now, in this moment. The question here is, “Are you conscious of this fact?” Would it even be possible to believe that God “was” but no longer “is”?
Finally, the “will be” gives us hope in the future that He has in store for us. It most often does not turn out exactly as we had expected - but if we enter the story, we will be part of a great adventure that He is orchestrating. We become part of His future just as much as He becomes part of ours.
Not only is it comforting to know that God is with me right now, but when I reflect on the awesome things He has done in the past (through stories handed down or even in my own life) as well as the assurance that He will be with me in the future, I find strength to cling to hope. He is not finished with me yet!
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