Who Wants Me to Listen?
“The LORD is our God…” (Deut. 6:4)
I remember when I was a teenager and read a quote on a wall. Under the quote was the word, “Anonymous.” I remember asking, “Who is ‘Anonymous’?” Well, I came to understand that the word is not a name of someone but indicates that we don’t know who wrote the quote, so it has been given the signature, “Anonymous.”
One thing we learn quickly in reading the Bible is God is not anonymous. Yes, He may be confusing in what He says or how He comes into our circumstances, but God will be accessible and knowable in revealing Himself and His ways.
God made Himself known through creation. He is God (Elohim—plural form of name). He is the almighty powerful One who can make something out of nothing by just speaking. “And God said…” is the repetitive theme in the opening chapter of the Bible (Genesis 1:3-ff) Though huge, this is just the “tip of the iceberg” of God and His names. The testimony of Scripture is how God revealed Himself and came to be known in multiple ways with a variety of names. This is a trail that comes to its fullest expression in the Son of God, Emmanuel, Son of Man, Jesus Christ.
Returning to the Old Testament, this pattern clearly occurs when God revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3. First, to give Moses some perspective, God identified Himself as the same God who came to his forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (v. 6) Then, later in the same burning bush conversation, a new name is revealed. This new identity is the name of God Moses is to tell the people of Israel when they ask who was the One who sent him: “And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (v. 14)
Declaring Himself as the “I AM” God is stating He is un-created and eternal. God has always existed and always will. Furthermore, God’s name given at this specific juncture in His relationship with Israel is a designation of Him being the One who has not only chosen them but always keeps covenant with His people, Israel. God’s great work to free His people from Pharaoh and Egyptian bondage through His servant, Moses, forever established them as God’s chosen people and confirms His choosing of them through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
In our English Bibles, the name “I AM” (Yahweh/Jehovah) has been written as LORD. (Note: the all-capital letter spelling does differentiate the name and its meaning from the name, Lord.) So, Moses declares in the Shema that it is the LORD God that is Israel’s God. So, now added to the creator’s name of God who inaugurated the beginning days with Abraham and his descendants now, manifests Himself, as the same God, but with a new name of His faithful character and forever love of Israel.
Jesus speaks of this same God when He designates the Moses-Shema passage to Israel as now the Messiah-Greatest Commandment for His followers. We, too, as children and disciples of Jesus Christ are in a new covenant of grace with the LORD God. This God has chosen and called us as well. This is the God is the God of Shema Parenting. Many Christian parents exist with a vague or anonymous approach to God and do not function with Him as LORD. The study will underscore for parents the importance to hear, know, and love the LORD God as their God for their family and in the raising of their children. Help your family and the families of your church say “Yes!” to the big and good God, the LORD God!
