In this episode, we explore the name YHWH, “I AM,” and what it reveals about who God truly is—eternal, unchanging, present, and deeply relational. We are reminded that God doesn’t depend on us, yet He chooses to be close to us and invite us into a relationship. Even when we don’t fully understand Him, we can trust that He is faithful, constant, and always working in love for us. Music: "Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Episode #1213 He Is Series YHWH (I AM) When You Feel Unworthy but God Draws Near Anyway
Exodus 3:13-15 “But Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, 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 title for all generations.”
Today, we are discussing a name for the Lord that was not spoken out loud for a very long time, and eventually it was only spoken by priests in the Jerusalem Temple. This name is YHWH (Yahweh), which means I AM. Did you know Yahweh (yah-WEH) occurs more than 6,800 times in the Old Testament? It appears in every book except Esther, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. I am learning so much through this series. I had no idea that this name occurred so many times. In the English edition, they usually replace the word Lord, with Adonay and then for Yahweh as “LORD” in all capital letters.
When trying to figure out what this name meant and why it was so important, I found an article called, “The Meaning of Yahweh: Why It Matters in Biblical Studies,” by Jenna Martin. (https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/why-it-matters-that-god-is-yahweh.html) This article gives 7 attributes that we know to be true about God. I would like to share them with you now.
1.) Yahweh Is the Self-Existent, Eternal God- God has no need for us. He doesn’t need anyone or anything. The rest of us need a lot to go in the right order to keep existing. If we don’t have our health, then no matter what else we have, we will eventually no longer cease to exist. God is not like this. He is eternal. He has always existed. He is the beginning and the end. He needs nothing to continue to exist.
2.) Yahweh is a Relational God- Yahweh is only used in the Bible when the author is talking about His personal relationship with people. A great example of this is Psalm 19. The author talks in the first 6 verses about Elohim (another name for God) and his relationship with the material world. Then, in verse 7, he shifts and starts to write about Yahweh and his relationship with those who know him and who are in covenant with him. God is making sure we know that He wants to have a personal relationship with His people. He does not want to be far from them. He doesn’t want to be held at arm’s length. God wants to be very close to us.
3.) Yahweh Is with Us- Yahweh is here, interacting with our world, among us. And he does that out of love. God is under no obligation to remain close to us, working in our lives and writing a love story between himself and the world. And yet, he chooses to do so. In fact, he chooses to build his very kingdom among believers. Luke 17:21 says, “Nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” God’s kingdom is right here.
4.) Yahweh Is the Unchanging God- God is the same yesterday, today, and always. (Hebrews 13:8). God is, who He is. He does not change because His teachings are difficult. He does not change because people don’t like Him. He is always the same. You can rely on that. In John 6:66, it says, “Because of this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.” Jesus talked about how He was the bread of life, and then in John 6:53, He said, “So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ' “ Jesus said something that was hard to understand, and He lost followers. He still said it. He knew they would leave. He knew it would be hard, and yet He said it anyway. He did not change so that He would be more popular. He didn’t teach what people wanted to hear. He taught the truth no matter what. Knowing that God is never going to change, we need to decide whether to follow Him and conform to His ways or not.
5.) Yahweh is Wholly Other than Us- Psalm 50:21 says, ”These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.” We tend to think God is like us. We know on some level that He isn’t. We know He is almighty. We know He is God. Yet, we also tend to think He is like us. For instance, we think He gets mad at us for no reason, because those around us do. We think His love is conditional because the love of those around us is conditional. We think that God thinks we are too much, just like everyone else does. God is not like us. He relates to us more deeply than we can imagine, but he is not like us. His ways are higher than our ways. We don’t understand why God does what He does because we forget that He is not like us. He knows everything. He is making decisions based on the past, present, and future. We mostly make them based on the past or the present.
6.) Yahweh Keeps His Covenant with Us- God’s covenant with Abraham shows His faithfulness, but when He reveals His name as Yahweh to Moses, He is making that faithfulness unmistakably clear—He is the God who is, who was, and who will always keep His word. Yahweh is not just the God who makes promises—He is the God who keeps them, unchanging and faithful through every generation.
7.) Yahweh Is Full of Mystery... but Worth Seeking!- We are not meant to completely understand the meaning of the name I AM who I AM. We aren’t meant to fully understand the Lord. Our brains can’t comprehend all of it. Our brains are human, and so they are limited in what we can understand. Also, He is so vast and so complex that there is not enough time in our lifetime to understand everything there is to know. Part of our pursuit to grow closer to the lord is to desire to seek to understand and know Him more and more.
Do you feel like you know more about the Lord now than you did before listening to this? Were there any things that were listed that surprised you? Maybe you already knew all of them, and yet it was a good refresher to go over them again. I definitely learned a few things today. I also went deeper on a few things I already knew on one level, but took root in a whole new way today. God definitely is mysterious. I love that! I love that He will never stop surprising us.
Dear Yahweh, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing, and we are so grateful for all you do. We are grateful that you are a mystery. Please help our hunger to seek you; never die. We are grateful for all your covenants with us. Please help us to never give up trust and faith in your covenants. We are grateful that you are not us. Please help us to remember you are so much greater than us and that you have no limitations on what you can do. We are grateful that you are unchanging. Please always remind us of this when we forget. Remind us that you are always the same! We are grateful that you are always with us and that you are a relational God. Please help us to remember you never leave our side. Help us to remember that you desire a relationship with us and that you don’t need us to be perfect before we have that relationship with us. We are grateful that you are self-existent and eternal. It is reassuring to know you don’t need us and that you will always be here, no matter what. There is no beginning or end with you. Thank you so much, Lord. Please help us to remember all this. We ask this in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to spending time with you again on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in October 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “This peace will bring you closer and closer to me. This peace will give you the grace and the mercy and the compassion that you need to truly serve all of my children. You are all my chosen children, and peace to you is the gift that I give that more than anything will assure you of my great love for you.”