The first aspect of God’s calling is that we need to see the vision of the burning thornbush, and the second aspect is seeing who God is and what God is.
The God who calls us is the great I AM – He was, He is, and He will be. God is ever-existing, self-existing, and He just is. Everything and everyone else comes and goes, but God is. Because of Him, we have our being, we exist, we breathe, and we are.
As the I AM, God in Christ is all that we need. He is the reality of all the positive things in the universe, and everything that’s positive in the universe points to God as the Only Positive One.
Actually, God is and we are not – we may be here today and we may think we are something, but in a few years we are not. But God as the I AM comes to call us – He saves us, regenerates us, and then calls us to be the ones who serve Him and minister Him to other people.
Our God is so great, so good, so wonderful, and so available! Simply by calling on His name, we get the reality of all that He is, and what He is meets our every need! Hallelujah for our God! May we see a revelation of what He is and who He is, so that our calling may be strengthened and our vision may be clear.
The God who Called us is the I AM – He IS!
When God called Moses (who represents us as the ones called by God), He said, I AM WHO I AM. Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you. (Exo. 3:14). Who is the God who calls us? He is the I AM. God IS, and we are not.
He was from eternity past, from the beginning of time, and throughout time; He is today; and He will be next year, in the future, and forever and ever. The name of God is simply the verb TO BE in all its tenses. People have come and gone; many things were and passed out of existence, but God was, He is, and He will be.
And as the One who IS, God is the reality of every positive thing. When the Lord Jesus as God incarnated came, He said, I am the true vine (John 15:1), I am the bread of life (John 6:35), I am the light (John 8:12), Before Abraham came into being, I am (John 8:58), etc.
Christ is the reality of everything that we need. If we need rest, Christ is our rest. If we need food, Christ is our real food. If we need joy, Christ is our real joy. He is the reality of everything positive in the universe – the reality of the heaven, the earth, air, water, trees, birds, cattle, food, rivers, plants, animals, etc.
This doesn’t mean that we are pantheistic – one who believes that God is in all these things… God is THE REALITY of all the positive things, and all the positive things are NOT real unless we touch God and enjoy God as the reality (see Col. 2:16-17).
Water is not really quenching our thirst unless we take God as the living water. Our real needs are satisfied only by God as the I AM. In our daily life, we can take Him as the reality of our transportation, the chair we sit in, the air that we breathe, the breakfast / lunch / dinner, the water we drink, the bike we ride, etc.
The more we open to the Lord and call on His name, He becomes the reality and He meets our every need as the great I AM. No matter who we are, when we call on the name of the Lord He is rich to us and He saves us (Rom. 10:12-13).
We simply need to believe that He is when we come to Him, and He will be all that we need (Heb. 11:6).
The God who Called us is the God of our Fathers
“And God also said to Moses, Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, Jehovah, 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 My memorial from generation to generation.” (Exo. 3:14-15)
In the Old Testament God kept saying that He is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob – time and time again, this is how He introduced Himself.
What does this title mean? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were the forefathers of Moses and the people of Israel, so God is the God of their fathers. This means that God is the God of our spiritual fathers, the God of the ones who have brought us to the Lord, who have shepherded us, who care for us, and who help us grow in life.
This really shows that God is not a stranger to us – we have a history with God, and God is related to us. When we were saved, we gained another genealogy – we entered into the divine kingdom, the divine species, and we are children of God with a spiritual lineage.
Paul said to the Corinthians that the begot them through the gospel (1 Cor. 4:15), and he recommended Timothy as being his child in the Lord (1 Cor. 4:17; Phil. 2:19-22). We may have many guides but we have but one or two spiritual fathers, and God is the God of our spiritual fathers.
Another aspect of God being the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob is that He is the God of every kind of person. Abraham was a good person, Isaac was relatively neutral, and Jacob was a supplanter and not-a-very-pleasant-person – but God is their God.
So, whoever we are, whatever our disposition and our character is, God is our God. He is all-inclusive. The God who calls us is the God of our spiritual fathers!
Lord, we want to know You as the great I AM. Save us from living in non-reality and trying to meet our needs by our own efforts. Lord Jesus, You ARE! You are everything we need! You are the tree of life, the water of life, the light of life, and even the living air. Keep us calling on Your name and taking You as the One who meets all our needs. Lord, there’s nothing positive in this universe that doesn’t point to You. We love You. We love to open to You and enjoy You. You are our God, the great I AM. Keep us experiencing, knowing, and enjoying You as such a One!
References and Further Reading
- This sharing is inspired from brother Dick Taylor’s speaking in this message and portions in, Life-Study of Exodus (pp. 57-60 and 113-114), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, ITERO spring 2013 “The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body“, week 5 entitled, Being a Qualified Servant of God by Having the Complete Experience of a Called One.
- Further reading: Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans, msg. 7.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Christ is our light, our food, our air; / He’s everything we’ll ever need. / Christ is our drink, our life, our way, / If in our being, He’d be freed.
# Dear Lord, Thou art so much to us, / Thou art our all in all; / What Thou art fully meets our needs, / Though they be great or small.
# O how I love Him! How I adore Him! / My breath, my sunshine, my all in all! / The great Creator became my Savior, / And all God’s fulness dwelleth in Him.
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