And You May Ask Yourself, "Well, How Did I Get Here?" (or, I AM, Revisited)

I mentioned back in this post that the very beginning of human life on this planet– of our being– started with the breath of God filling our lungs. Let's dig into that a little more.
Remember that I AM (hayah hayah) in a nutshell means "that was, that is, and that is to come," and its root word is hava– "to breathe, to be."

Now, let us travel back to prehistoric times, when dinosaurs ruled the earth!
*chomp chomp* 

Okay, but let's actually go back to the very beginning, to the creation of the world. The creation story in Genesis tells us that God created our world with His words; as in "Let there be (light, boundaries for the waters, foliage, swimming things, flying things, creeping things, etc)!" So it follows that when God got to mankind, He declared "Let there be hummus! I mean humans!"1 
Right? 

No. 

God does not make His favorite creature the same way He made all the rest of creation; that is, by using a creative command. Instead, God conferred with Himself:
"Self! Let's make a dude! Someone that looks like us, and talks like us, that can spend time with us and help take care of this world we've made! Yes? Yes!"
And then the Almighty got down to earth and started digging in the dirt, like any child would. He fiddled and worked and formed the shape of a man, until He was pleased with the outcome. Then, instead of speaking the man to life, He took His own creative force– His spirit, His breath– and breathed it directly into the man, making this particular creature just like Him. a

The Creator created creators.

This is the thing that sets humans apart from all the rest of creation: that we were created with relationship in mind, and that we were given not just the breath that is life, but breath that creates life. This truth is conveyed all over the Bible, that "death and life are in the power of the tongue"b, and that the world of our belief– our faith– is inextricably connected with what we speak. c, d

This amazing connection, this sharing of breath with our Creator, is the essence of our being.
Descartes said "I think, therefore I am," but more foundational than this, and infinitely more true, is God saying "I AM, therefore you are."

After publishing the first I AM post, my friend told me something I hadn't heard before: it's been said that the Hebrew word YHWH (basis of Yahweh and Jehovah) is expressed by the sounds of our breathing in, and breathing out. Think of it– just to breathe is to call on the name of the Lord. 2 "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord," no? 3

I adore the idea that the very name of God is intrinsic to our beings; that our involuntary expression of that name sustains us, and that tuning in and focusing on that name– on our breath– has tremendous power to support our well-being in numerous and mind-boggling ways. This is an amazing example of just how orderly and intricate and focused on connection with us God is. He seems pretty serious about this stuff, doesn't He? We can find His level of seriousness thoroughly illustrated in John 17, where Jesus prays what is called the High Priestly Prayer. Here God's commitment to connection is not only clear in the words Jesus uses, but also in the way He uses them, with the repetition and weaving of His words, in and out and through and around and pick your preposition. This prayer feels like a word pretzel and will make your eyes glaze over. Let's check it out! 

Okay, okay, I'll just give you one little chunk that sums up the prayer pretty well, and you can go read the whole thing yourself if you want, noticing how it conveys the idea in this passage over and over. 

"The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." John 17:22, 23

This is who God is for us and this is who we are in Him. This is the whole point of I AM: oneness, completeness, glory– because of love. When you feel doubt and disconnection creeping in on you, take a deep breath... there He is.

 1. Just kidding. Latin wasn't invented yet. The word used in Genesis is a Hebrew one: "Adam." Both "Adam" and "human" imply being of the earth or ground. It's kind of the same for "hummus." Pass the pita chips!

2. I appreciate what Jason Gray has said about this. Do check it out, it's lovely. 

3. What do you think about the phrase "let everything that has breath praise the Lord?" Is it prescriptive or descriptive? Imperative or declarative? 

a- Genesis 1 (FPV)
b- Proverbs 18:21
c- Matthew 12:34, Luke 6:45
d- 2 Corinthians 4:13-14