One before the other

THE question I felt needed to be answered affirmatively before I married Miska was this: Can I live without her? My intentions were romantic and chivalrous, but my focus was dead wrong. I discovered that there was probably nobody that I literally could not live without. In time I found the better question to ask myself: Do I want to live without Miska?

Moses discovered that finding the right answers required asking the right questions. He had run far from home, and 40 years later he’d lost his identity. God found Moses in the desert and spoke to him out of a burning bush. He spoke of Moses’ history and of Israel under Egypt’s iron hand. “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt,” He said (Exodus 3:7). God had not forgotten Israel, and He had not forgotten Moses. God told Moses that He had chosen him to return to Egypt, confront Pharaoh’s empire and lead Israel out of bondage.

Incredulous and afraid, Moses answered with a barrage of words protesting: “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people?” (v.11). Who am I? Moses asked. It was an honest query; but whatever the answer, he was sure he was not the one to do what God had asked of him.

Rather than answer Moses directly, God responded, “I will be with you” (v.12). Then God gave His name: “I Am Who I Am”, a mysterious name declaring that God is always God — eternity past to eternity future (v.14). Wherever humans go, God always precedes.

Before Moses could know who he was, he needed to know who God was. Only then could Moses discover his own identity and the courage he needed. Winn Collier