When we get older, we often see the events of our past with regret in light of where we are now and where our thinking is. What is powerful to me, though, is to see how God is working on and developing us in the process.

One night I found myself at a weekly worship gathering in college.

Like many weeks, I came with a naive notion that something spectacular, dramatic, or incredibly insightful would occur and that God would instantly solve my problems.

“God has the power to fix anything I’m facing right now,” I thought. I left the worship gathering wondering why I hadn’t yet experienced this power in the face of my current circumstances.

This weekend, during worship at our Downtown campus more than four years later, this moment was revisited.

In Exodus 3, we are brought into the mysterious story of the burning bush. This is the story where God gives himself a name. “I am who I am,” or I will be who I will be, is what He calls Himself—intertwining the future with the present (Exodus 3:14). God is saying to Moses, this is who I am and this is who I will be.

“God is saying He is who He says He is all of the time. No matter the circumstance, He is constant.”

This powerful declaration goes much deeper than what I understood when I first read it. When I think about myself or anyone else I know for that matter—we are often portrayed with adjectives describing who we are and what our character is like. We are called outgoing, funny, kind, creative, and the list goes on. However, what we find out—if we are around people enough, live with someone, or if we even get married—is that we are those things, but not all of the time. We can be kind, and choose to be kind, and we may have some kindness that comes pretty naturally to us, but we all have limits and once we are pushed to those limits, those character traits are not constant regardless of circumstance.

That is why God’s statement is profound to me; God is saying He is who He says He is all of the time. No matter the circumstance, He is constant. We can trust and believe that He will continue to be who He says He will continue to be even though we, our friends, family, and spouse will waver.

God is making a bold statement and has the credibility to back it up with Moses. He is the same God of Moses’ ancestors and has proven Himself to them and will prove Himself to Moses.Moses is a transgressor on the run. But, because he will be with He who is who He says He is and He who will be who He says He will be, Moses’ own fate will be different. Not because of who Moses is—but because of Who he is with.

“Moses’ own fate will be different. Not because of who Moses is—but because of Who he is with.

A few Sundays ago we sang the song, “Song of Moses” by Aaron Keyes, where he writes in the chorus,

“By His hand we stand in victory. By His Name we overcome.”

This captivated me with new meaning and took me back to that moment in college. As I look to God—to His hand, I see what He has done, who He is, and what He has the ability to do. But I also recognize my responsibility.

This thought has brought life to me as I think about all the things that I am going to face this week and I think, “I feel like I don’t have the ability to do all of this and maintain sanity.” Although I am limited in what I can do, I still have to move by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

While God is able to overcome anything I’m facing, obedience is still required.

But He will be with me. Not that He will do it all for me, no, He sends Moses on His behalf. He created us to rule and reign, to work and keep the field, to image the Creator (Genesis 2:15). It will not be easy, but He will be with us.

And that is enough.