This will blow your mind. I know it did mine. As I sat in the church service I knew that needed to share with you what I had heard the pastor say in his message.
A few months ago, one of the teaching pastors at my church was preaching a message called “Holy Habits”. As he got toward the end of his message he talked briefly about how Moses wanted a name for God. So God responded with the name YHWH. As you sit there reading this you might be unsure of how to pronounce that name. I am sure that Moses was the same way. This is the form back then of the name of God - Yahweh. Let’s look and see when Moses got this name of God from God Almighty Himself.
In Exodus 3, we see Moses tending sheep that belonged to Jethro his father-in-law. Moses led the flock out into the wilderness and came to the mountain of God called Sinai. As he was watching the flock he noticed that there was a bush burning in the distance, but it wasn’t burning up. Moses looked in amazement and decided to go and check it out. I mean wouldn’t we all? As Moses got closer to the bush the Lord’s voice started talking to him from the bush and told him not to come any closer and to take off his sandals.
God tells Moses that He has heard the cries of his people in Egypt and that He wanted Moses to go back to Egypt and get his people. Moses protested this idea of God’s by asking God “who am I to do this.” God then told Moses that He would be with Moses. Moses protested more saying to God “what if they ask who sent me? What is his name? What do I say then?” [1] This is what God said in reply:
“God replied to Moses, ‘I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.’ God also said to Moses, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.’” - Exodus 3:14-15 NLT
God gave Moses His eternal name - YHWH. The name that we remember to this very day. This name of God is probably the most familiar name of all His names. But all of that you might have known or it all may have been familiar. But none of that is what I meant by mind-blowing. Check out this.
As the teaching pastor continued to talk about this name of God - YHWH. When you say the name without the vowels it sounds like breathing. YH (inhale). WH (exhale). Did you try it? YH (inhale). WH (exhale). This blew my mind! When we breathe, just simply inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, we are saying the name of God at least 22,000 times a day [2]! It is just amazing to me! But as he talked is was reminded of a moment in the creation story that I wanted to share with you as well.
In Genesis, we see God created Adam. God stoops down to the ground and creates Adam from the dust [3]. Then God does this:
“…He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.” - Genesis 2:7 NLT
This is amazing! No wonder when we breathe in and out - inhale, exhale - we say the name of God! It’s because it is the breath of God! God brought us to life with His very own breath and then gave Moses the name YHWH which sounds like breathing. It’s almost as if God did it on purpose!
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[1] Exodus 3
[2] Breathe The Lung Association.
[3] Genesis 2:7
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