ICS Daily Devotions
The Great I Am
John 21:12-13 Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?”—knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.
The disciples were struggling between faith and doubt as they went fishing at the Sea of Tiberias soon after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, and Jesus appeared to them to assure them by reminding and revealing to them who He is and what He is able to do.
They dared not ask who He was because they knew it was Jesus! What a revelation! When the disciples knew He was the Savior, they also believed that He was going to be their provider for ministry and life. Could the same be said of us too?
Exodus 3:14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
Just like the Israelites needed to understand that God is more than the deliverer who led them out of Egypt, but everything they needed Him to be in their lives, there is no other way of describing the all-sufficient God except the great I AM.
“I AM” is a form of the verb “to be” in Hebrew, through which God expresses His self-existence and unchanging nature. He transcends the past, present and future; He has always been, He is and He will always be. The great I AM is the inexhaustible God, who has divine sufficiency, and there is endless abundance to meet any challenges and surprises that come. This is the assurance that God gave Moses — that it was the great I AM sending him to deliver the Israelites from Egypt.
Sometimes, we rationalize away the power and ability of God because our finite minds cannot comprehend it. The way to overcome this limitation is by renewing the mind and taking it by faith from the heart.
Jeremiah 32:27 Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?
Nothing is too difficult for God because He is able, and He changes not in His character and promises to us. He is the only thing that is constant in this ever-changing world. Be encouraged that whatever He has called us to do will be provided for when we honor Him in our lives.
Sermon Series: 30 Dec 2018
