When Moses heard the words “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground” (Ex. 3:5), he was standing in front of, of all things, a burning bush.
You know the story. God had a job for Moses, and Moses was reluctant. He said to God, “Suppose I go; what will I tell people when they ask, ‘Who sent you?’ ”God replied, “I am who I am” (verse 14).
I’m not a Hebrew scholar, but I understand that those words can also be translated “I will be who I will be.”
Think about it: Throughout the Scriptures God appears in different forms to different people. To Moses He was a burning bush (Ex. 3:2-6). To Joshua He appeared as “commander of the army of the Lord” (Joshua 5:14). To Elijah He was both a blinding flame that consumed the sacrifice on Mount Carmel and the gentle whisper that came to him at Horeb to ask, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:13).
We are well into the season when we honor a God who came to earth as a baby. And why would that surprise us? He’s demonstrated over the millennia that He will stop at nothing to engage His creatures, demonstrate His love, and ask for their loyalty.
Among the many lessons we might draw from this, one is certainly that it’s impossible to classify or categorize God to the point of saying “He always does this” or “He never does that.” We can no more predict what God will do than we can predict next week’s headlines. He is truly beyond our comprehension.
All we can do is reflect on the many ways He’s surprised His people in the past—then be amazed when He invites us to join Him in surprising others with His amazing, unpredictable love.
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Stephen Chavez is managing editor of the Adventist Review. This article was published December 8, 2011.
