But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" He said, "But I will be with you...." (Exodus 3:11-12)God's pattern so far is that he gives this promise in those moments when discouragement, despair, or doubt seem to threaten most (see Genesis 26:24; 28:15; 46:3-4). And if you look closely at Genesis 32:9-12 (and how it construes what was already promised in 31:3 and 28:14-15), you'll see that Jacob understands the phrase "I will be with you" to mean "I will do you good."
Here Moses is afraid to be God's agent for bringing his people up out of Egypt. So God tells him, "I will be with you." But this still isn't enough for Moses. A little while later he gives the excuse, "but I am slow of speech and of tongue." God answers him, "I will be with your mouth" (4:11-12). Still Moses won't obey. God becomes angry, but in his mercy he appoints his brother Aaron to help Moses, promising, "I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do" (4:15).
This theme is huge in the Bible, and a blog post is insufficient space for unpacking all the instances and implications of it. But keep your eyes open. Isaiah is full of the idea of God being with his people, climaxing at the point where he names the Messiah "Immanuel." And this, of course, is picked up by the New Testament and carried into eternity.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (Revelation 21:3)
If I remember correctly, when God reveals his name to Moses as YHWH, there is an important philological note about the concreteness of that name. God's name means "I am there as the one who is there," not simply "I am who I am." I think this complements what you commented on, Tyler. God is with his people, and he is there for them. As we will see, he is with them because he is with us - he was bringing them out of Egypt in order to fulfill the covenant with Abraham so that blessing would come to all the "families of the earth" (Gen 12.3; 10.32); which is us. I can't imagine a better name for God - the one whom is there for us.
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