The Divine Name

^{Exodus 3:13} Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

First of all, its kind of a goofy question that Moses asks. Moses foresees a situation where he claims to the nation of Israel that he is a messenger sent from God and the people's response is "What is God's name?"
What is amazing about this passage though is two-fold. On the one hand, God reveals His name to His people. Names had power to ancient Israel, and even as we know today, telling someone your name is an invitation into relationship. Giving your name to someone is an invitation for them to get to know you, to reveal a part of yourself unknown before. It is huge that the Creator God has a name, meaning He is a personal God, not an ethereal force in the universe (Acts 17).

At the same time that God revealing His name to us invites us into relationship, His name itself also reveals there is still mystery in our knowing Him. His name can be translated "I am" "I will be what I will be" even understood by some as "I am the one that exists" "I am who I am" and/or "I shall prove to be whatsoever I shall prove to be." God's name represents a truth: He is personal, yet full of mystery. We should remember that God is not like the force described in Star Wars, indifferent to the world and human beings-instead crazy in love with each of us. We should also remember God is full of mystery- we cannot figure Him out or put Him in a box- He routinely shatters our preconceived notions that would try to limit Him.