“My presence shall go with thee — and I will give thee rest.”
“And the Lord — He it is that doth go before thee — He will be with thee — He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee — fear not, neither be dismayed.” [Ex.33:14; De.31:8]
It definitely goes without saying — as any spiritually perceptive true believer will agree — that we are (and have been) living in the “perilous times” that are vividly being described from God’s Word in 2Ti.3:1-5! The changes in our culture prove to be very pointedly anti-Christian. We, who are in Christ — in this world — definitely need the light — the leadership — and the loving-kindness of the Holy Spirit in order to navigate through the foreboding situation that confronts us.
The texts above deliver to every one of God’s chosen, awakened and regenerated children — who are yet in this fallen world — just the message that we need to assure our hearts that we will — though tried by fire — come through it all as gold [Job23:10].
Moses was, himself, a “type” of Christ — in that the same promise(s) that God made to him, would be received and realized all of God’s particular and peculiar chosen children that were given to Moses to lead as well. When God said to Moses, “My (eternal) presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest!”– that same promise is to be — by God’s grace — received and realized by each one of God’s particular and peculiar people [1Pe.2:9-10]. And, the same wonderful, reassuring promise of God is true for us who have been given to the Lord Jesus Christ — and placed in Him — “before the foundation of the world”! [Eph.1:3-4] For, indeed, “all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him, Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” [2Co.1:20]
Moses was commanded to deliver to all of Israel the meat of the gospel message of De.31:8. Which gospel message — in short — announces who the Lord God is: “He it is that doth go before thee”; and what the Lord God will, in fact, do: “He will be with thee”; and what the Lord God will not do: “He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee”; and what will be engendered and received by response — as a result of this great work of grace — from each one of us: “fear not — neither be dismayed!” Be reminded of Je.32:40: “I will put my fear in their hearts — that they shall not depart from me.”
Truly, there are no greater — or, more accurate — or, more appropriate — questions and statements of exclamation that can be made — than that which is declared from Ro.8:31: “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us — who (or, what) can be against us?!” This being true, we can meet with confidence the coming year.
What better meditation can a child of God ask for than, this. Let us trust in Him as we begin a new year of sojourning through this fallen and sinful world.
-For Christ’s Glory Only!
John Carpenter
