Day Twenty

Deuteronomy 31:1-8

1.) So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel.

2.) And he said to them, "I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. The LORD has said to me, 'You shall not go over this Jordan.'

3.) The LORD your God Himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, as the LORD has spoken.

4.) And the LORD will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them.

5.) And the LORD will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you.

6.) Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you."

7.) Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it.

8.) It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."

         The time of Moses is ending. There was still much to do, but Moses was done. He had led these people faithfully for forty years. He could go no further. However, he was still worried about the people. The Lord had promised to go before them, but there would be times when it would look hopeless. Would they stay faithful to God, or would they break and scatter? Facing war situations are always intense, and then there were women and children involved. Millions of women and children.

         And then there was Joshua. Joshua who had left Egypt when Moses led the people out. Only Joshua and Caleb were still alive of that original adult group. Joshua had been faithful all along the way, standing with Moses in any and all situations. But you never really knew about someone until it came to be show time.

         But Joshua did fine. He made some mistakes, but so had Moses. It was a struggle. The people did mostly fine, at least as long as Joshua lived. They had followed the Lord. They marched around Jericho and the walls came down. They took the land. They settled it. It wasn’t perfect, but they achieved.

         However, as time passed, they fell away from the Lord. The Lord brought correction and they came back, but then they would stray again. This continued until the Babylonian captivity when they were ruthlessly crushed. The darkest days of their entire history. It always happened when they strayed. They saw time and time again that walking with the Lord was always for the best, but still they strayed. Much as Christianity has strayed.

         Verse six is the heart of the message. Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you."

         He will not leave us nor forsake us. We might leave Him and forsake Him, but He will be there when we come back.

         Think about what makes you afraid. COVID? War? Government? Disease? Inflation? Your financial future? The future of your church? Being left alone? Are you a child of God? Do you not think your Father doesn’t know of these things? None of these things are bigger than He is. The key is being faithful.

         A family walking along on a path in a park that overlooked the sea far below. A little boy was walking with his uncle whom he rarely saw but who was quite fun. The little boy talked incessantly to his uncle. But when they all stepped into an overlook area and the sea opened before them, the little guy was shocked. He turned and ran to his daddy, for he was sure his daddy would keep him safe.

         Our prayer today is to claim the promise that He will never leave us or forsake us and then pray that the Lord keeps us on that path.