Verses for thought: Psalm 135:6, Exodus 3:14, Luke 9:24. 

While it may sound like a name for a transformers sequel, the Tetragrammaton is just a fancy name for God. It comes from the Name God speaks to Moses in Exodus 3:14, “I AM WHO I AM” (also translatable as “I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE”). That name is so holy in Judaism that it is not even spoken, just left as a set of four consonants indicating the word referenced.*

There’s an aspect of God I find very hard to explain, yet feel very affectionate for. I think the closest word I can find for it is stubborn… He WILL be what He will be, He WILL do what He will do. He’s unapologetic, in an age where most people couch their words with apologies and self-deprecation. So many people now open their sentences with phrases like, “with all due respect,” or, “I’m not telling you what to think.” People emphasize that they don’t want to pressure you to feel one way or another, that they want to find a common ground.

God the Father is the opposite. He cares very deeply for you… but He does not give a flip if what He says offends you. He’s not here to nurse your delicate sensibilities or find a way to make His beliefs match your own. In fact, He says that those who do such things are bad for you (2 Tim 4:2-4)

Jesus says we must all carry our cross (Luke 9:23). It’s not a cross thrust on you in punishment, it’s a cross voluntarily accepted in humility, the one we take on our shoulders the day we decide to follow our Savior. I realized a long time ago that, once you decide to become a Christian, the cross you bear every day is exquisitely hand-carved for you by the Person who loves you most in the world. It may not always make sense. But when you understand this, you will never have to fear anything again. 

With Love,

Morgan Hart

*Footnote: Technically this explanation of the Tetragrammaton is an oversimplification, but it would take pages and pages to explain the subtleties of the Hebrew language, why it’s an oversimplification, and more significantly, it wouldn’t change the point being made.