Psalm 40Sample

It’s not something we often consider or discuss. But we, each and every one of us, are breathing because God is sustaining us. Every breath, every heartbeat, He is holding our lives in His hands, just as He holds the universe together (Col. 1:17). If God decided to gather His breath back to Himself, Job 34:15 tells us that “all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.”

Our physical existence, no matter how self-sufficient we feel on a daily basis, depends utterly and entirely on God. But, what about our spiritual state?

Think about Ephesians 2:1-9, do we have in ourselves the ability to be alive? How are we made alive?

According to John 15:5, what can we do apart from Jesus?

All of us are poor and needy and are always at the mercy of God, whether we believe in Him or not, whether we trust Him or not. Our very breath is a mercy.

We are therefore physically and spiritually poor and in need of Jesus every single day. We are all dependent on Him from the minute our lungs take in that first gasp of breath to the moment that breath leaves us. And again, whose breath is in our lungs? The very breath of God. In fact, every time you breathe you are quite possibly saying His name, because scholars believe His very name is the sound of our breath: YHWH.

“… scholars have noted that the letters YHWH represent breathing sounds, aspirated consonants that in the Hebrew alphabet would be transliterated like this:

Yod, rhymes with “rode,” which we transliterate “Y”

He, rhymes with “say,” which we transliterate “H”

Vav, like “lava,” which we transliterate “V” or “W”

He, rhymes with “say,” which we transliterate “H”

A wonderful question rises to excite the imagination: what if the name of

God is the sound of breathing?”1

The first thing we do as a newborn is inhale the breath of life that is God’s Name, and the last thing we do, in the moment of our death, is exhale that Name.2

—JAMES DAVID AUDLIN

When you really think about your true physical and spiritual reality before God, how do you feel? Comforted? Anxious? 

Acknowledging our need before God and our true dependence on Him can be a little unnerving, but I’m here to tell you it’s a great thing. We’ll talk more about that tomorrow.

1. Jason Gray, “Is The Name Of God The Sound Of Our Breathing?” The Rabbit Room, August 19, 2011. Available at https://rabbitroom.com.

2. James David Audlin, Breathing the Name of God: “YHWH” and “Elohim” in the Gospel of John, Volume II, as published by Editores Volcan Baru, 2013. Available at www.academia.edu.