Exodus 3:14God replied, "I am who am." Then he added,"This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you."
I am reading The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. (actually, I read it in three days) - and now I am continuously contemplating its message. One of the many points that struck me was that God defined Himself as a verb. 'I am a verb. I am that I am. I will be who I will be. I am a verb! I am alive, dynamic, ever active, and moving. I am a being verb.'
Before this I never really thought about it before. God was God. The Holy Trinity. 3 Persons in One. Person being a noun; God the Name for all 3 Persons - also a noun. (For those of you who have heard the School House Rock! - you can sing with me - A Noun is a Person, Place or Thing).
The book continues: 'And my very essence is a verb. I am more attuned to verbs than nouns. Verbs such as confessing, repenting, living, loving, responding, growing, reaping, changing, sowing, running, dancing, singing, and on and on.'
But the more I think about it - God introduces Himself to Moses as a verb - a form of 'Be'. 'I am Who Am'. God can not be anything other that He Who Is present, past, and future...He Who Is Now. He is the same with Moses as He was with Jesus as He is right now at this very moment, and will be for years to come. He will never change. He is incapable of changing. He Is.
The book continues: 'Humans, on the other hand, have a knack for taking a verb that is alive and full of grace and turning it into a dead noun or principle that reeks of rules: something growing and alive dies. Nouns exist because there is a created universe and physical reality, but if the universe is only a mass of nouns, it is dead. Unless 'I am', there are no verbs, and verbs are what make the universe alive.'
I could not stop thinking about this. Do we really take a perfectly good verb and make it into a dead noun?
Expectations vs Expectancy
God does not put expectations upon us. How could He? He already knows the present, past, and future. We could never disappoint Him. He loves us and we belong to Him. We are a part of He Who Is. We are made in His image and likeness. Like Him, we have a trinity within us - Mind, Body, and Spirit. Sound familiar? There was the Word. And the Word became flesh. Mind - the Word. Spirit, the Soul, linked to the Holy Spirit. Body - God Who Is. God does not put expectations upon us - we do that very well on our own.
Relationship vs Relations
Think about it - relationship, relations. Relationship, relations. It is so true - relationship does sound dead when compared to relations. God does not want a relationship with us - He wants continuous relations with us. Relations where we include Him in every part of our life. He is the Sun of our universe - where everything revolves around Him and without Him, nothing will be.
How little I understood, and still understand, about God. God is a verb! His essence is a verb!
1 comment:
God is love. What is love?
"God does not put expectations upon us. How could He?"
He says, "Be holy as I am holy."
"We could never disappoint Him."
Mortal sin doesn't succeed in disappointing Him?
"disappoint. v. [with object]
1. to fail to fulfill the expectations or wishes of: His gross ingratitude disappointed us.
2. to defeat the fulfillment of (hopes, plans, etc.); thwart; frustrate: to be disappointed in love." (dictionary.com)
Does sin not fail to fulfil the wishes of God? Does it not thwart the work of God in us and through us?
A couple things to consider.
Sincerely in Christ,
Hidden One
PS: As you're probably well aware, The Shack was written by a Protestant who believes in 'relationship rather than religion', something that naturally twists/wrecks his concept of a relationship with God. Apply salt liberally to his writings.
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