Fear Not... I AM.

This week in Stressed Less Living on the Melissa Taylor Online Bible Study page, our memory verse is Isaiah 43:1-3a, "But now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel.  Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee, when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon you.  For I am the Lord they God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior."

What a powerful verse!

There's a Casting Crowns song that I really like- Who Am I.  It says, "a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow, a wave tossed in the ocean, a vapor in the wind."

Temporary.  Not lasting. 

Then the refrain- Not because of who I am, but because of what You've done.  Not because of what I've done, but because of Who You Are.

You are- The I Am.  I Am He- no God before or after.  I, even I, am the Lord.  The Savior. The
Redeemer. The Creator.

In Isaiah 43, God tells us that He is all of this.  He is our creator... He knew me from the beginning.  He is our Redeemer- I'm bought back with a price.  He has called me by name- Lauren- and He knows not just my name but everything about me.  When you call someone by name, it means you're thinking of them, personally.  You've sought them out, chosen them to highlight or focus on.  I am chosen. 

He never leaves us.  In the water, He's with us- He gave Jonah a whale to save Him and He was there to catch Peter when He started drifting down... after they both took their eyes off of God's plans for them. In the fire, He was the 4th man- and the 3 Hebrew children came out and didn't even smell like smoke- even though the fire was so hot that it consumed the men that threw them in. He is the Lord- the I Am. 

Chapter 43 goes on to say, "I have loved thee." This means that God was in their past.  As the Creator of the universe, He still loves us individually.  We were created for His glory. 

"I have declared.  I have saved.  I have showed... There is none that can deliver out of my hand."

He was there... He said it would be so... He delivered.  He showed them through His marvelous works.  He's shown me through His marvelous works... He makes a way.  He blots out transgressions- whew, I'm so glad for that... but get this.  He forgives us, but it is for His sake.  Say what? In verse 25, He says, "I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember my sin." He forgives us because He wants to...

Because He loves us. He created us.  He called us. 

In the past, loving us now, in the present.  He is... I AM.   

I.  AM.  Present tense- dictionary.com says that "am" is the first person present tense, significant of be.

I am... because He is who spoke me into being.

I can be who I am... because He is who He is.

And His grace is sufficient for all of it.