I Am With You

Introduction

I love this study on the promises of God because it reminds me of the character of God. God is not some inanimate object that does not come alongside of us. Rather, God is loving and caring and He desires to be in constant fellowship with us. He wants us to experience what He has promised. Early in Scripture we see that God is with us. God showed Jacob a dream about a stairway to heaven, assuring Jacob of access to God Almighty.

Genesis 28:15 NIV84

15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

We receive great encouragement from these promises. There have been many times in my life that the promises of God have sustained me and kept me going. I have overcome fear through these encouragements.

Isaiah 41:10 NIV84

10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

There are several examples of God promising to be with us. Many times we see the words that that writer of Hebrews reminded us of in Hebrews 13:5b.

Hebrews 13:5 NIV84

5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Those words were first mentioned from God to Moses, His faithful servant. God made a promise and still fulfills that promise to us today. Listen closely to promise of God that He is with us.

Deuteronomy 31:1–8 NIV84

1 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 forefathers 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.”

From this passage, I see that God is with us to give comfort; that God is with us to give companionship; and, that God is with us to give counsel.

God is With Us to Give Comfort

The Bible says that Moses was 120 years old. A few chapters later, we see that Moses was 120 when he died.

Deuteronomy 34:7 NIV84

7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.

There are many that I have talked to lately that have said they will never retire for when they are through working, they will be in the grave. I hope that I am able to keep my health so that I will be able to do the same. However, I know that I will not live on this earth forever. Moses recognized this and began to make preparations for his successor. God had revealed to him that Joshua was to take over as leader. As saddened as the Israelites must have been to hear this news, they were reassured that God was going to be with them. What a statement of comfort! The people would receive relief from affliction. Verse 4 reminds them what God has already done to give them relief from those that tried to conquer them. In fact, you can look at Numbers 21:21-25 and Deuteronomy 2:31-35 to see the relief from affliction from Sihon and Og.

There is also evidence that God gave comfort through the relief of alleviation. The word alleviate means to endure or lessen. There is great comfort in knowing that part of God’s plan is to bring comfort with His plan. God lessens the burdens by assuring the Israelites that He will go on ahead of them. Verse 3 says,

Deuteronomy 31:3 NIV84

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.

This is the reassurance that was stated earlier in Deuteronomy 1:30:

Deuteronomy 1:30 NIV84

30 The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes,

God gives us relief from affliction and through alleviation. He also gives us great comfort by giving us relief of anguish. I am certain that there was a bit of anguish for the Israelites. They had followed Moses for forty years with the promise of going into the promised land. Yet, here Moses was saying, “By the way, I am not able to lead you anymore.” Can you hear the people say, “What are we going to do? What will happen to us?” The anguish had to have set in, but God gives them relief with the installation of a new leader. Ultimately, the people are reminded that the leader is the Lord. He will always make a way for His people even if it means to give them new earthly leadership. It is still His design!

1 Samuel 2:6–10 NIV84

6 “The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. 7 The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. 8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. “For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; upon them he has set the world. 9 He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails; 10 those who oppose the Lord will be shattered. He will thunder against them from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

God was with the Israelites then and God is with us still today. Look for ways in which God has given you comfort in these ways. Write the down and add to them daily. God has promised to be with you to give you comfort.

God is With Us to Give Companionship

He has also promised to be with you to give companionship. God is a faithful ally. We see the statement in verse 6 that says, “For the Lord goes with you.” What a promise it is to have God as a faithful ally.

Romans 8:31 NIV84

31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

God loves us! Part of His demonstration of that love He has for us is the assurance that He is with us and He is for us.

Haggai 1:13 NIV84

13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord.

God wants you to succeed in life! He is your forever advocate!

The Psalmist cried out in Psalm 119:154:

Psalm 119:154 NIV84

154 Defend my cause and redeem me; preserve my life according to your promise.

God takes care of those that cannot take care of themselves.

Psalm 68:5 NIV84

5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.

You might say, I have a father and I am not a widow. God still is your advocate. In fact, we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. When we say yes to Jesus and our Lord and Savior, we are given the indwelling Holy Spirit that guides us and directs us. The Holy Spirit also advocates for us by praying on our behalf when we do not know how to pray.

Romans 8:26 NIV84

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

God is with us to give us companionship because He is our fervent admirer. I cannot get over this! God loves you so much!

1 Thessalonians 1:4 NIV84

4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,

I will never forget the times on the playgrounds of school when I was chosen to be on the team. There was no greater feeling for me to know that I am chosen. God is with us to give us companionship as a fervent admirer. I cannot get over the fact that God as part of His creation says I am good.

Genesis 1:31 NIV84

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

God loves us so much that he wants us to experience Him fully.

Ephesians 2:4–5 NIV84

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

God goes before us. God provides protection for us. God fulfills His promises about us. God gives us comfort and companionship. And in doing so, God gives us counsel.

God is With Us to Give Counsel

God gives us counsel by advising us. The role of a good counselor is not to tell you what to do but to guide you and advise you so that you can make a good choice. We see in verse 6 the phrase, “Be strong and courageous.” God tells Moses this and instructs Moses to tell the same thing to Joshua. We later see in Scripture that Joshua then tells others that same advice. I believe that God uses this phrase to tell us the same thing. We can be strong and courageous because the rest of the verse says, “For the Lord your God goes with you.” How comforting is that? God can advise us because He assures us He goes with us.

In that same verse, God counsels us to admonish us. You and I need to be corrected sometimes. The admonishment is simply “do not be afraid or terrified.” It is made again in verse 8 with the additional admonishment, “do not be discouraged.” I don’t know about you, but the last 18 months I have found myself afraid and fearing the unknown. I have found myself discouraged about the impact this pandemic has had on my life and my church. It is hard sometimes to not be, but the promise of God that comes to us in the form of counsel is, to not be afraid and not be discouraged. Why? Because the Lord your God is with you. Because the Lord your God goes before you. Because the Lord your God says not to be!

Take your pick!

One last thought about this counsel of God, if He goes before us, if He goes with us, If He says not be afraid, then we can be assured that everything we need can be found in Him because He attends to our needs.

I quoted Philippians 4:19 a few weeks ago.

Philippians 4:19 NIV84

19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Why can we take this to heart?

Ephesians 3:20–21 NIV84

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

God knows every need you have. God will fill every need you have. God will guide you. God will lead you. God will correct you. God will take care of you.

Psalm 23 NIV84

A psalm of David. 1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

God is with you.

Deuteronomy 31:8 NIV84

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.”