God Will Be With You

For today’s meditation we will read Joshua 1:5, “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.” (ESV)

This were the words of God to Joshua as he assured him that He would be with him just as He had been with Moses. The people of Israel were delivered from the bondage of cruel slavery in Egypt, and were led by Moses for forty years in the wilderness. Through these forty years the Israelites had undergone numerous experiences, and at the end of this journey the leadership was passed on from Moses to Joshua. As the mantle of leadership was laid on Joshua, he recalled the past, was aware of the present, and as he looked toward the future he was filled with fear and apprehension. It was at this point God spoke to Joshua. Though there is no record that Joshua revealed these fears to anyone, God knew all that was going on inside Joshua’s heart.

There may be fears and anxieties in your heart regarding the future that no one is aware of, but I hope that this message will encourage you to know that the God who created the heavens and the earth is mindful of all that you are going through. God will certainly give you courage and boldness through His word. Many face circumstances that are so overwhelming, and the fears that loom large in their hearts cannot be told to anyone. Maybe the challenges that you are facing are huge, and the fears regarding the future are enormous as well. The Lord wants to assure you that He will be with you, and stand by you just as He was with Moses.

Let us study the word to understand how God was with Moses, the challenges that Moses encountered, and how he overcame them. By so doing we too can face all challenges with God’s strength and help.

Moses’ first hurdle

The first challenge Moses encountered was himself. When God told Moses that He had chosen him to go and deliver the people of Israel from the hands of Pharaoh, this was Moses’ response.

We read in Exodus 3:11, But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (ESV)

Moses told God that he was nobody, and that he could never go and stand before Pharaoh to deliver the people of Israel.

Oftentimes the greatest challenge to overcome is ourselves as we have learnt to think in a particular way. Especially when we face some problems or difficulties we have trained ourselves to handle things in a certain way which in itself becomes a challenge to us. Maybe at time we have the same attitude that Moses had about himself. We resign ourselves to the fact that the situations that we are facing are beyond our control, and that we cannot handle them. Many students in schools and colleges are giving up on their studies saying that they are unable to cope. In these days especially, when children and young people come to this point, they refuse to change their stance. Keep in mind that God has given you the opportunity to study, and if He has given it to you, He will also help you complete the same.

There are families where husbands and wives want to quit as they are unable to manage the conflict or hardships. They feel that they have taken all the effort they can, and cannot carry on with the relationship. For some others, they feel this way with their jobs, and want to quit. The more and more that we have this attitude of negativity saying that things won’t work out, this tends to become a greater reality in our lives. This begins as a thought, is spoken as words, and soon it begins to play itself out in your life. Sadly, even those is ministry have been discouraged to believe that they cannot carry on the work that God has entrusted to them.

Moses refused to accept God’s call because of his previous experiences

Often we have this negative attitude because of experiences and hurts from the past, which remain strongly etched in our hearts. Remember that if we continue to live in the past we are likely to lose out on the present, and the future as well. We cannot change the past, but the present is ours, and the future is in the hands of God.

Sometimes when there is a conflict between husband and wife, they will in their arguments recount all that happened right from when they met each other. It is true that many memories from the past are fresh in our minds, but if with God’s help we are not willing to let go, and forget about them, the future will not be bright. Let us ask God to help us overcome this attitude of living in despair.