This post is part of a 40-Day Prayer Journey through the season of Lent. Click here to learn more and read other posts in the series.
“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” (Deuteronomy 31:6).
How do we know?
How do we know that God goes with us wherever we find ourselves in life? How can we be certain that he will never leave us nor forsake us?
After all, I don’t know about you, but I know my own faults and shortcomings. I know I don’t deserve a holy God to want anything to do with me. I’m a sinful man who daily does sinful things. God would be right and just if he were to cast me away from his presence.
The man who spoke the verses quoted above knew his faults and shortcomings too. He had blood on his hands. He was a murderer and a coward, who, at times, had tried to get out of doing what God wanted him to do. But in all of his years, Moses had never known God to abandon him or cast him away, and he wanted Joshua to know that as well.
God’s presence in our lives is not based on our faithfulness to him. It’s based on his faithfulness to us—his faithfulness to the promises he makes in his Word.
What do we find in his Word? Instances time and time again where God shows a perfect track record of keeping all of his promises. One of the most shocking is found on a dark and lonely hill, some two thousand years ago, as the Son of God cried out on a cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
God forsook his own Son Jesus so we would never have to know what that agony is like. Jesus paid for all of our sins, washing them away with his own blood. We stand before our holy and righteous God, clothed in the white robes of holiness and righteousness, given to us by our Savior.
No matter what our lives look like here on earth, our God gives us strength and courage to live. His promises of life and forgiveness sustain us. They drive out fear and terror, and we know that our God goes with us. He’ll never leave us nor forsake us—all because of Jesus.
Today, as you pray, ask that God would assure his people of his constant presence in their lives. Pray that he would fill them with strength and courage amid life’s difficulties, trials, sorrows, and woes. Pray that he would point their eyes to the cross where all their sins were paid for, to the empty tomb where their Savior cannot be found because he lives, and encourage them to look ahead to the home waiting for them in heaven.
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Alex Brown is the marketing and content copywriter at Northwestern Publishing House. He has his Master of Divinity degree from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and enjoys reading, writing, and spending time in God’s creation.
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