God defies human description — and we will likely never understand Him.

However, He gives us a profound explanation of Himself as “I AM.”

God told Moses, “I AM THAT I AM. Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus‬ ‭3:14‬).

Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John‬ ‭8:58‬).

How does this definition help us understand God?

What does it even mean?

To better understand it, we must know God.

Why?

As humans, we fabricate our perception of God based on our tangential experience with other things or people instead of God’s intrinsic nature.

So our understanding of God is always woefully insufficient.

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Related: God’s Astonishing Plan Is for Us to Know His Hidden Wisdom

Test yourself: Who do you think God is?

For many years, I thought of Him as a slightly senile, judgmental old man.

I believed that if I got to know Him, He would require me to walk a miserably parochial path — when what I desired was adventure and love.

How dim my view of Him was for sure!

God passionately desires to know us.

He says, “Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah‬ ‭65:24‬)‬‬.

God knows our need to know Him.

And when we search to truly know Him, He reveals Himself.

God can’t be compared to anything or anyone.

When we discover God, we don’t have to define Him because our life is defined by Him

He is the eternal, self-existing one.

When we wrap our minds around the fact that we need to know God in order to understand Him — we cease defining Him based on our experiences.

And we are free to truly discover Him.

When we discover God, we don’t have to define Him because our life is defined by Him

He is revealed in ways we could never imagine.

God’s extraordinary friendship endures disagreement, tragedy, death — because “I AM” exceeds everything we imagine.