iCrucified

A Burning Bush Encore

I am still basking in the warmth and glow of the Burning Bush Voice speaking the words, “I AM WHO I AM.” I am still gleaning insight and understanding from these words.

I think one of my limitations and perhaps a limitation shared by all of humanity is our lineality and our connection to things that are finite. We are closely knit to things that have a beginning and an end; such is the nature of created things and this is also the nature of the finite. Human beings are also creators; we understand births, deaths and the linear existence that dwells between those poles of beginnings and endings. This is not to say that understanding and familiarity of these definable beginnings and endings is comfortable; it is not. There are extreme highs and devastating lows in the linear and finite world, but most often, it is something that we come to terms with and learn to deal with.

It is the infinite and the uncreated that is the cause of our greatest consternation…and this is why I AM WHO I AM causes so much tension in our lives. It is hard for us to comprehend sheer existence. When I think of GOD Eternal and His Being always Existent and Self-Sustaining, it cramps my brain. Seriously, I stop thinking about it and just move on… “There’s nothing to see here folks, move along.” Maybe this attitude is okay; I mean, we will say we “accept it on faith,” but do we really? Do we live according to our acceptance of GOD’s immutable, eternal, sustaining existence? I try to live this way according to my faith, but I find myself slipping, sliding, and stumbling as I traverse and climb the mountain of the Eternal Always Existent GOD… His word has recorded that I was created with the seed of eternity embedded in the threads of my DNA (Ecclesiastes 3:11) and this compels me to approach with a holy curiosity this Burning Bush GOD Who blazes eternal and infinite…never, ever consumed. I think we continue to push and press, struggle and strive, worry and weary because we have not or do not accept His eternal existence.

The finite is easier to grasp and so we search for our own identity because we have yet to believe His Eternal Identity, I AM WHO I AM. The problem with this approach is that our own identity is found in His Identity; therefore, searching anywhere but seeking GOD will result in our failure. We must seek the Infinite Identity if we are to find our own (true) identity. When we believe and surrender to His identity, it is then we begin to truly find and explore our true…identity.

Everything that has ever existed or now exists derives its being from the One, the only existent and preexistent being, who also said, “I AM the Existent.” …As the only being and eternal being, he is himself the cause of existence to all those to whom he has imparted existence from himself by his will and his power and gives existence to all things and their powers and forms, richly and ungrudgingly from himself. -Eusebius

The past couple of weeks I was reverting to habits that I think God has tried to break in me over the past year of being set aside. I have been trying to learn to rest in Him and allow the fellowship of the Trinity sustain me. It is interesting to me that almost as soon as I sensed God’s releasing me back into the “world of do” I exited the “world of be.” My winsome turned to tension and my peace turned to pressed; I realized something was awry, but wasn’t able to make sense of it until a few days ago. Thomas Merton writes; “What we have to be is what we are.” If we have found ourselves “in Christ,” then we are the temple of God and He lives in us and all we have to do is… Be. “I AM WHO I AM.”

We are created in the image of GOD. We bear His Image; we are created to “Be” as He is. We wrestle with and struggle with all nature of things, but GOD calls us to “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). This is the nature of being. He specifically calls us to enter His rest. He is the One who’s nature holds all things together, even the things we wrestle with and struggle against.

Through him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through him. (John 1:3)

He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him GOD created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth… Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else. (Colossians 1:15-20 NLT)

Choosing to BE-lieve, surrender, and enter His Being frees us to rest and begin the journey of “Be-ing” ourselves…free from wrestling, free from struggling…free from finding a false identity in our “Do-ing.” It is only in Him that we “live move and exist” (Acts 17:28). This is where we are called to “Be.” Outside of Him, we are always in some degree of conflict and turmoil…finite wrestling with the Infinite. He calls us to embrace the eternity that was seeded into us even before we were created. We are rebirthed from finite endings to Infinite Beings when we embrace the Uncreated, Eternal, I AM WHO I AM. Freedom comes when we learn to Be what we are, children of the Eternal, Immortal, God, I AM WHO I AM.

It is GOD, through his word and through his people, who urges us to live in His Presence in uninterrupted fellowship so we might fully experience the depths and riches of Jesus Christ. -inspired by Sanctuary of the Soul by Richard Foster

My Prayer—

I will listen to what the LORD GOD is saying, for HE is speaking peace to his faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to Him (Psalm 85:8). I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart.  Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you (Psalm 9:1, 10). Know that the LORD does wonders for the faithful; when I call upon the LORD, he will hear me (Psalm 4:3). We have waited in silence on your loving-kindness, O God, you are our God for ever and ever; you shall be our guide for evermore (Psalm 48:8, 13). Come quickly to help me, O LORD my Savior (Psalm 38:22).