God is with Us

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9)

Moses, perhaps the greatest of all the leaders of the children of Israel, is dead. Joshua has been appointed as his successor and he finds himself with the responsibility of leading hundreds of thousands of people into the land of promise. The job is new, the task is daunting! He is passing through uncharted territories in his own life and there is the prospect of the enemies that lay ahead and would need to be faced. 

Does this sound familiar? Is this not where much of the population of planet Earth finds itself today? We find ourselves moving forward into territories and we have ‘never been this way before’ (Joshua 3:4). And what about the ‘enemies’? Today, some of you will be very afraid of this new ‘way’. Others will be filled with uncertainty about the future. Some of you may feel at times that you just can’t cope with the life that we are moving into. 

Friends, the word to us today is the same word that God gave to Joshua as he faced his uncharted territory and enemies. “Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed”. 

Why? “For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go”.

THIS is what makes all the difference! God’s presence with us. Unless God had promised to be with Joshua, he could not have moved forward into the unknown. 

What a comfort this can bring us today. The same God who promised to be with Joshua in his hour of need, is the one who draws near to us also, to lead us through the days of uncertainty  that lie ahead. Let’s draw near to Him that we too may know the peace that His lovely presence brings to us today. 

​Pauline Anderson