One of the tropes I have come to associate with Christian teachings, especially for women, is that I am to define myself based on how God sees me. There are many excellent reasons to study this topic, if you can avoid the saccharine way it is usually presented. Whether experiencing self-consciousness as a teenager or insecurity as an adult, it’s nice to know there is someone who loves me always in my corner.

But if God is the one defining us, who defines God?

As a human, I want to define God. When I do something wrong, I want the forgiving heavenly father, not the perfect judge. When I’m anxious about tomorrow, I want the steadfast rock, not the master who deserves unwavering obedience.

But that’s not how it works. God defines God.

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘The I AM has sent me to you.’”

Exodus 3:13-14

While I love these verses, it also feels as clear as mud. It reminds me of an annoying phrase that one might have picked up in a freshman philosophy classes, such as “I think therefore I am.” What on earth is “I am who I am” supposed to mean?

I am not a Hebrew scholar, but one of the gems I’ve picked up about Hebrew is that ideas are repeated for emphasis. In other words, an apply apple is more apple than a regular apple. Thus, when I read “I am who I am,” I wonder if the intent is to accentuate the point that God is God. The highest, the supreme, the ruler, with no other gods above him.

In other words, the one true God.

To the Jewish people living in slavery and surrounded by the gods of the Egyptians, this must have been a title that awoke awe. Their God named himself as the God who was more god-like than any other god. (Which he would go onto prove by systematically creating plagues centered around domains that the Egyptian gods were supposed to rule.)

Whatever has you down in this tumultuous life, remember that God is Yahweh, the incomparably more, the sovereign of all… even the gods our world says we should be worshiping.