Read that and meditate on these seven words: The Lord, my God, goes before me. God who created all and is in all and over all goes ahead of you to make the path you will take ready for you who seeks Him and His will. Where God guides; He provides is not a catch phrase but it is who God was, is, and always will be—GOD of all who knows exactly what we need when we need it.
The words that soon follow the proclamation of His Presence going before us are always: “Be strong and courageous; don’t be afraid.” These holy, power-filled words from God to His People through the ages remind and encourage all of us to trust Him completely.
These are the some of the final words of Moses from God to His People. These last words of Moses also announce the next leader, chosen by God—Joshua. God’s message and mission will not change with the “changing of the guard” of leadership. The mission to enter the Promised Land has now arrived. Joshua will be the leader who will follow the Lord who has already gone before them all. Hold that thought. God does the same for us today. And again, we say; “the Lord, my God goes before me.” So, with God; I will not be afraid. I will be strong and courageous.
Deuteronomy 31
Joshua to Succeed Moses
Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: 2 “I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’ 3 The Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the Lord said. 4 And the Lord will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land. 5 The Lord will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Public Reading of the Law
9 So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 Then Moses commanded them: “At the end of every seven years, in the year for canceling debts, during the Festival of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this law before them in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns—so they can listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this law. 13 Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Israel’s Rebellion Predicted
14 The Lord said to Moses, “Now the day of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, where I will commission him.” So Moses and Joshua came and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.
15 Then the Lord appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent. 16 And the Lord said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your ancestors, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them. 17 And in that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and calamities will come on them, and in that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come on us because our God is not with us?’ 18 And I will certainly hide my face in that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.
19 “Now write down this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness for me against them. 20 When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their ancestors, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant. 21 And when many disasters and calamities come on them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know what they are disposed to do, even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath.” 22 So Moses wrote down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites.
23 The Lord gave this command to Joshua son of Nun: “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you.”
24 After Moses finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end, 25 he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord: 26 “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. There it will remain as a witness against you. 27 For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you have been rebellious against the Lord while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die! 28 Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officials, so that I can speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to testify against them. 29 For I know that after my death you are sure to become utterly corrupt and to turn from the way I have commanded you. In days to come, disaster will fall on you because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord and arouse his anger by what your hands have made.”
(Tomorrow we will read the words of the song God told Moses to write.)
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
We can learn much from a people who followed God as long as He met all their physical needs after delivering them from slavery to the Egyptians. Even though, they grumbled and complained in the dessert, disobeyed whenever Moses turned his back as if God didn’t know, and then they defied God by crafting images so they could see and feel a form to worship—but God’s love for them did not change. God was sadden and angry in those moments; but His faithfulness to them did not change. This is Good News for us.
Through the wilderness journey; God was jealous their lack of love for Him because He knew what was ahead for them. God desired to pour out His blessings over them—blessings of becoming more like Him. But they wanted their own way. Even Moses had his moments, but he trusted God. What we learn from Genesis to Deuteronomy is this: We are all created in the image of God for our good and His glory. When we rebel against the molding and shaping of God in and through us; it will not go well for us. And only we who rebel are to blame.
God knows our hearts can be deceitful. God knows what we think, how we think, and who influences us. God knows what we will face each day in our crazy world. What we need to know and grabbed hold of with all our strength is this:
God so loved us that He sent His Son, Jesus, a part of Himself, to come to earth, move into the neighborhood of humanity to shed the Light of Truth in our world, darkened by the Enemy of deceit. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Jesus healed the brokenhearted, gave hope to the poor, brought life to the walking dead, and opened the eyes of the blind and ears of the deaf—both spiritually and physically!
Jesus tireless walked from town to town to do this while training those who would do “even greater things” after He would ascend back to heaven. Then the last part of God’s mission to His Son was to die for our sins in the cruelest way possible invented by man—crucifixion. The cross came after the beatings, mocking, betrayals, and lies; stripping him of all humility as a human.
Jesus had the power to stop it all, call down tens of thousands of angels from heaven to destroy the enemy—but He did not. This was not the will of God. God loved us. Jesus knew this love and loved us, too. This relentless love of God in Jesus was the reason he willingly and obediently laid down his life for ours to pay for our sins—in fact all the sins of the world. God did all the work to redeem us from sin and deliver us from the bondage of our sins and set us free. Nobody else could do that for us. There is no one like our God!
So, when God says, “Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid. I have gone before you and I will be with you always.” We can believe it and trust Him with our very lives because He is Life!
“I AM the Truth, the Way, and the Life,” says Jesus. “NO ONE comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) Trust Truth who is Jesus. Avoid what the world says, “follow your heart” because that is not truth. Our hearts are human and are deceitful for we are not God. Follow Jesus who fulfilled and renewed the covenant to love God with ALL our hearts, minds, and souls as God taught the Israelites. Follow the heart of God!
Jesus is OUR HOPE because God’s Son defeated the Enemy of death by God’s resurrection power on the Third Day!
Matthew, a disciple who was trained well by Jesus writes;
“After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
God has gone before us to help us face what we do not yet know and God is with us always. Jesus is our Hope of eternal life for all who believe.
Believe, repent to Jesus. Accept the mercy, Receive the grace of salvation. Trust in His relentless, unchanging love and His leading. His love never fails or gives up on us.
He has gone before us. He is with us always. Don’t be afraid of doing what He says.
Lord,
Thank you for this day of remembering to fear you as we stand in awe of You, grateful and humbled by all you have done for us to save us! Your love drives out all earthly fears of the unknown, becoming the solid rock foundation of our faith in you. Thank you for redeeming us. Thank you for being with us always. Thank you for courage and strength with your Words to tell the Truth to others! Lead the lost in my family to your saving grace. Lead me in all I think, say, and do for your glory.
In Jesus Name, Amen
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 