Popeye the sailor’s favourite cry was “I yam what I Yam”, and he would not pretend to be anyone else. In that cry there is disappointment, the awful truth that there was nothing else for him; don’t get your hopes up he seems to say, don’t expect too much because “I yam what I yam”.
That cry seems to come from the world at the moment, there seems to be no good news, no possibility of growth, no hope of change for the better; and perhaps in our worse moments you like me have felt the same way.
God says to you, me and the world “I am who I am, all your hopes and dreams for a new life are bound up in me”. God is saying get your hopes up; expect everything because He is who He is.
Jesus told Peter to let down his nets into the water; and you can hear the exasperation in Peters voice when he says “we have caught nothing all night, but we will give it a go; I yam what I yam, a fisherman who has no expectations. But instead the net was nearly bursting. Jesus had come with the good news that there was new life for Peter beyond his wildest dreams; and how did Peter respond – “I yam what I yam a sinful man; no hope of change, no expectation in life”. But Jesus turns to Peter and says “get your hopes up because you have not yet reached what you can be through me.
So next time you have the opportunity to do something for God, do not turn away and say “I yam what I yam there is no hope in me; I am not good enough or strong enough”. Turn towards that still small voice of God who says “I am what I am, get your hopes up, you will be what you will be because through me all things are possible”.