The Name of the Great I Am

Many of you may already know that the fathers of our faith would have never spoken the Name of God.  We transliterate the unspeakable Hebrew letters into YHWH.  You may also see it written "Yahweh," which is also the way we have come to pronounce the Name that was once deemed too holy to be spoken.  But here is a bit more that you may not know...

“The letters of the name of God in Hebrew… are infrequently pronounced Yahweh. But in truth they are inutterable….

This word {YHWH} is the sound of breathing.

The holiest name in the world, the Name of Creator, is the sound of your own breathing. That these letters are unpronounceable is no accident. Just as it is no accident that they are also the root letters of the Hebrew verb ‘to be’… God’s name is name of Being itself.”

~Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

He gives us every breath.  With every breath we breathe in the Great I AM.  

"In Him we live and move and have our being."  Acts 17:28

With every breath we speak His holy Name.  The unspeakable Name.  With every breath.  So breathe.

"Let every thing that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord!"  Psalm 150:6

Breathe.  

Listen. 

YHWH...YHWH...YHWH...



(Rabbi Lawrence Kushner's quote taken from Ann Voskamp's post, How to Breathe Through the Hard Times.)

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And, after you've soaked in that for a bit...a reminder that the same God who gives us breath placed another king on a throne this week.  Indeed, "He sets up kings and deposes them."  (Daniel 2:21)

Inauguration Day:  Watching God at Work

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And just for pure inspiration...

Katie's Story

You know what I love about her story?  That I can read it!  In this technical world that is criticized for fostering relationship that run a mile-wide and an inch-deep, I rejoice that I can read stories about my brothers and sisters in Christ who are living the radical sold-out life He calls us to live.  It's really not radical at all when we realize what He's done for us.  And we are encouraged to live fully surrendered when we are able to hear and read about so many others who are doing the same.  Thank you, Katie, for reminding us that His call is serious and warrants our whole-hearted response.  Let's throw our whole selves into this life; we really don't have that much time.

Read more from her here.