God is striding ahead of you. He's right there with you. He won't let you down; He won't leave you. Don't be intimidated. Don't worry, (Deuteronomy 31:8 The Message). If that isn’t a pep talk, I don’t know what is! Moses was 120 years old when he encouraged Joshua with those words. He was passing the baton of leadership to Joshua, who would lead the people of Israel across the Jordan River. Joshua was already a gallant, experienced general, but even he needed a shot in the arm from his commander. The New Living Translation says, do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; He will neither fail you nor abandon you.
When things are not going as planned—when the bottom drops out from beneath our hopes and dreams—wouldn’t we all like to have a Moses in our life screaming, “God is striding ahead of you! He’s right there with you! He won’t let you down! He won’t leave you! Don’t be intimidated! DON’T WORRY!”? How we need to be encouraged never to give up!
Jesus did that. One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. "There was a judge in a certain city," He said, "who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, 'Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.' The judge ignored her for a while, but finally, he said to himself, 'I don't fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I'm going to see that she gets justice because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!'"
Then the Lord said, "Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don't you think God will surely give justice to His chosen people who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will He find on the earth who have faith?" (Luke 18: 1-8 NLT).
Never give up. God rewards faith. Your prayers really do matter. We have our timetable; God has His. Sometimes (often, actually), they are not the same, and that is when we need to fully trust that God is striding ahead of us, as Moses said. Before giving up in defeat, meditate on these verses, and let the Word of God encourage you:
So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up (Galatians 6:9-10 NLT).
And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image. Therefore, since God in His mercy has given us this new way, we never give up (2 Corinthians 3:18 – 4:2 NLT).
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NLT).
But as for you, be strong and courageous, for your work will be rewarded, (2 Chronicles 15:7 NLT).
© 2022, Chris Werre
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