We trust people we can relate to and know well. If your best friend were to go before you and prepare a place for you, and promise to be with you to see you succeed, you would take comfort knowing they would be with you, right?
RELEVANCE
God offers you such a promise to encourage you. He promised Moses and Joshua to deliver the children of Israel into the promised land and help them overcome their biggest challenges. He delivered on His promises. At the end of the campaign God proved His faithfulness to His word. “So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had said to Moses; and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes” (Joshua 11:23). What promise did Joshua trust in?
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).
Jesus made similar promises. He promised the Holy Spirit’s presence.
“I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:15-18).
REFLECT AND RELATE
Conduct a “courage assessment.” What things might be preventing you from trusting God?
Can you recall difficult times in the past when you knew God was with you?
REFERENCES
1 Samuel 17:33-37; Acts 4:32-33