In the book of Exodus, when Israel is oppressed in Egypt, we find the Israelites crying out because of their slavery: “And the sons of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage ascended to God” (Exod. 2:23). Their cries reached God, but they didn’t call out to him by name. And the text doesn’t presuppose they were calling out to him specifically. Nevertheless, their cries ascended, God heard, and he remembered his promises to their forefathers (Exod. 2:24–25). Just as God initiated a personal relationship with Abraham, here too he initiates the reintroduction between himself and his people.
God comes to Moses in a burning bush and commissions him to return to Egypt to be a prophet to Pharaoh so God may deliver his people (Exod. 3:10). But Moses hesitates.
Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God furthermore said to Moses, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is the name for all generations to use to call upon Me. (Exod. 3:12–15, emphasis added)
This name of God, Yahweh—often rendered LORD in English Bibles—literally comes from the Hebrew verb “to be.” God is telling Moses not just that he is the God of his forefathers, but he is the God who is, the God who has always been. In revealing this name to Moses, God accomplishes two purposes: he establishes his eternal nature and he reaffirms a personal relationship with them.
This God who comes to the people of Israel in their affliction is the same God who called Abraham out of Ur, blessed Isaac with an inheritance, and grew Jacob and his sons into a great nation. He is their God. And he has always been their God, because he has always been. Because humans are unable to know God unless he reveals himself to them, to have the name of the one true God is incredibly special. In giving them the name Yahweh, he is allowing them to address him personally.
This is true for us as well. To know God’s name is to be able to enter into a personal relationship with the maker of the universe. And before we ever knew to call on God’s name, in every season of rebellion in which we have failed to do so, and even in times when we are swallowed up by the tides of suffering, grief, and despair, God is—and he is for you.
