The Power of Knowing Who You Are
10:29 AM
I am a sufferer of mysophonia (a reduced ability to tune out
sensory input; it means I get really bugged when people chew loudly), I am
constantly bothered by having to buy specialty shoes to accommodate two
different foot sizes and arch heights, and I am able to flex my right nostril
independent of my left. Two of those statements are true; one is a lie. Can you
guess which one?
As lighthearted as this game often is, it’s not too
different from a more serious version that plays out in minds and hearts of people
today. Each of us has a list of personal, “I am” statements which define, not
only who we are, but how we act.
Because I am a father and want to be a great father I live a certain lifestyle
and behave in certain ways, especially with my family. However, because the
relationship between “I am” and “I will” or “I do” is so significant, those “I
am” statements are often the focus of anyone trying to sway our behavior, and
some who have less-than benign intent.
In Moses 1, Moses, atop the mountain where such things are
learned, discovered truth about his God and himself. He learned that God is
almighty, endless, the creator of worlds and the Father of spirits. Most
poignantly, God told Moses, “thou art my Son” (vv. 2-4). While a seemingly
basic doctrine to many, this truth overwhelmed Moses.
As often happens with such spiritual enlightenment, Satan came
next to Moses tempting him to doubt the very truth he has just barely learned:
“Moses, son of man, worship me” (v. 12). But Moses stood in the face of Satan,
empowered with what he had just learned regarding his divine nature: “I am a
son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy glory,
that I should worship thee?” (v. 13). Enraged at Moses’ righteous stubbornness,
“Satan cried with a loud voice, and ranted upon the earth, and commanded,
saying: I am the Only Begotten, worship me” (v. 19). Moses “began to fear” but
was not deterred from what he knew to be true and he boldly commanded the
adversary to depart.
What happened next is both shocking and powerful: because of
Moses’s insistence that he is a son of God and the power that truth gave him to
stand toe-to-toe with Lucifer, “Satan
began to tremble” in fear! Moses, empowered, commands Satan to depart and that
once-great enemy, “with a loud voice, with weeping, and wailing, and a gnashing
of teeth” obeyed Moses and left.
As simultaneously terrifying and marvelous as this
experience must have been for Moses, it parallels experiences many have
regularly today. Satan, through hundreds of thousands of subservient voices,
would love nothing more today than to have people doubt their very relationship
with God. No matter the source—whether misguided science or seeming logic—these
voices would fill a heart with doubt. And, often, all it takes is one
word—“if”. Satan tempted Jesus himself to doubt his own sonship by repeatedly
barking phrases such as “If thou be the Son of God…” (vv. 3, 6) or “If thou
wilt fall down and worship me…” (v. 9).
Similarly today dissenting and discouraging voices try our
faith by attempting to focus our attention on an endless supply of “ifs” rather
than an eternal list of sureties. And when we respond to Satan’s “if” with, as
Moses did, an “I am” or an “I know” then the adversary trembles. He can only
drown a doubting soul, while those who continually solidify their faith remain
steadfast and immovable.
Questions:
- How would you finish the phrase: “I am . . .”?
- What pressures are there on you to believe you are something other than a child of God?
- What impact would it have on our small portion of the world if we clung to and lived according to what God wants us to believe? What impact would it have on you?
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