He Is with Us
By Steve Hearts
When God calls me to step out and do something that goes beyond what I’m comfortable with, my initial reaction is often one of uncertainty, insecurity, and even outright fear. I start thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong and asking myself, “What if?” I also start dwelling on my inadequacies, weaknesses, and reasons why I feel I can’t do what God is asking me to do. Does this sound familiar?
This frame of mind causes me to lose sight of one very important fact: if God is calling me to do something, this means He intends to be with me in it.
As I read through biblical accounts, it encourages me to realize that many of those gone before me fell into the same tendency of momentarily giving place to feelings of uncertainty and inadequacy when God revealed His will for them, and they needed to be reminded that He was and always would be with them.
When God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush and told him He had chosen him to free the Hebrews from slavery, Moses replied, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you.”1
Later on, when Moses argued that he wasn’t eloquent, and was slow of speech, etc., God told him, “Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”2
When checking out the story of Gideon, I noticed the exact same thing. “When the angel of the Lord first appeared to Gideon, he said, ‘The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.’”
“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”3
These examples make me deeply appreciate God’s faithfulness to reassure us, sometimes repeatedly, that He is with us. He doesn’t in any way condemn us for needing these reminders.4 Instead, He lovingly reminds us and encourages us to shift our focus from our own limited, inadequate selves to the unchangeable fact that He is with us.
It was David’s determination to focus on God’s presence with him and not his circumstances that enabled him to face Goliath and win a victory over him.5
I’m sure Joshua must have felt more than a little uncertain when it came time for him to assume the position of leading God’s people after Moses’ death. But God told him, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.”6
Even Jesus, knowing full well how His mission on earth would conclude, confidently told His disciples just before His arrest, “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.”7
So, with these examples from Scripture in mind, I can rest assured that whenever I embark on something God has specifically called me to, and directly spoken to me about, I need not fear nor hesitate, for He is with me. He has promised to always be with us all, “to the very end of the age.”8
1 Exodus 3:11–12 NIV.
2 Exodus 4:12 NIV.
3 Judges 6:12–14 NIV.
4 See John 15:5.
5 See 1 Samuel 17.
6 Joshua 1:5 NIV.
7 John 16:32 NIV.
8 Matthew 28:20 NIV.
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