WHO AM I or WHO AM I?

Same words… different meanings…I often find myself between both questions. Who am I compared to the Lord? Who am I in the Lord?

Oh yeah… the song! The lyrics to that song elaborates on one of these questions very well…

“Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth would care to know my name? Would care to feel my hurt? Who am I, that the bright and morning star would choose to light the way, for my ever-wandering heart?”

Have you ever noticed in Genesis 22, Abraham answered with “here I am” when the Lord spoke to him for the first time to tell him to take Isaac and offer him as a burnt offering on the mountain in the land of Moriah. In the middle of his act of obedience on the mountain, the angel of the LORD called to him in which Abraham responded a little different… “here am I”. Normally, we would think of this just referring to his location but what if we viewed it from a different perspective. Could Abraham be saying, “here I am” and “here am I” as answering the call (test) of the LORD? It seems as though there is a transition that took place within Abraham, from who he was when God sought to “prove/test” him to who he was when his faith was put into action. When Abraham acted on his faith, being obedient and trusting God, he went from just ‘Abraham’ to the place where God called him to be… the father of a great nation. Things seem to really open up after this. We find similar situations with a few other prominent people in the Bible…

Moses asked God in Exodus 3:11, “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharoah…?”

David also asked God in 2 Samuel 7:18, “Who am I, O Lord God?..”

Job and his friends realized how much their understanding was not to be compared to that of their Creator – Job 40:4 and 42:3-4. Who are we compared to the GREAT I AM, the CREATOR, the HOLY ONE, JEHOVAH, ABBA, our LORD and SAVIOUR? I am reminded in Job 38-41 of just how small (in myself) I am compared to God so why me? Why any of us? What power do we have?  What have I ‘created’? What life do I hold in my hands? (Job 38:4-7 – God asked Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”)

John the Baptist said similar in John 1:27, “He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes’ latchet I am not worthy to unloose.”

But Paul says… “I am an ambassador. I am a minister, a preacher, an apostle. I am a prisoner but free. I am an Israelite but also spiritually adopted and joint-heirs with Christ.”… That’s a lot of ‘I AMs”!

But ‘who am I’ can go deeper than that and on more of a personal level…

Who am I to decide what I say or do tomorrow?

Who am I to know what’s best for my brother or sister in Christ or even my own family?

Who am I to think that what I want is what’s best for me and/or my family?

Who am I to choose what someone deserves?

In the middle of these two questions, is where I’m at right now… God is still showing me who He wants me to be, ever-so patiently and lovingly, but for now, I know that I am His servant, His child, His ambassador, and most importantly, I am loved by Him. Who are you?

Isaiah 55:9-12 – “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So, are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. “For you shall go out with joy and be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

A thoughtful devotion written by Jessica Bramlett.