The Plumbline

The Lord, the Savior, the Holy One of Israel, says, “I am the Lord your God. I teach you for your own good. I lead you in the way you should go. (Isaiah 48:17) I teach you for your own good - if we are honest here, we all need a little more of his 'instruction' than we have embraced! We might be 'hearing' his teachings, but are we allowing those words to have a deep and meaningful effect in our lives? It isn't just some random preacher teaching us - it is the "I AM". The self-sufficient, self-sustaining God - the one who was and who always is - he is the one doing the teaching. Are we listening? "I AM" is the Lord our God. He sustains us when we don't have the wherewithal to sustain ourselves. He is the one who is not dependent upon anyone else - he has been, will always be, and is right now. All manner of 'distraction' exists for us - things or individuals we might want to elevate to the place of a 'god' in our lives, but the...

Sing to God! Sing praises to his name! Prepare the way for the one who rides on the clouds. His name is Yah. Worship before him with joy. God, who lives in his holy palace, is a father to orphans, and he takes care of widows. (Psalm 68:4-5) In most translations, YAH is seen as Yahweh or LORD. Whenever you see LORD in scripture, this is the name of God that describes him as the "I am". In observing God as the I AM, we are seeing the side of God that has always been, will always be. There is no beginning, nor any end to his existence. This is something our finite minds have a hard time with because everything around us has a beginning and will have an end at some point. Even when we think there might have been an 'emptiness' somewhere in times past, there never was because God was, is, and will always be! If we think of God as the I AM in our lives, we are really acknowledging that he created us, keeps us going throughout this lifetime, and has prepared an even greater ...