In the Bible, there’s a secret advantage that can turn any “mission: impossible” into guaranteed success. God calls His people to do difficult things they could never accomplish in their own strength or wisdom. How could a stuttering Moses who spent his middle age tending sheep in the desert tell Pharoah to free all the Hebrew slaves? How could Israel then make it all the way from Egypt to Canaan, both escaping Pharoah’s chariot in pursuit and enduring the desert littered with danger? How could Joshua lead God’s people into the promised land despite their overwhelming fear of its inhabitants? Or what supplied David with victory after victory despite overwhelming odds against him?
In all these cases, there was a single factor that made the difference. God was with them (see Ex. 3:12; 4:12; 13:21; Josh. 1:5; 1 Sam. 18:12). If God is with His people, they can do anything. If God is not with His people, they can do nothing. The Bible makes this clear in countless stories and numerous statements.
The stories exist to offer us wisdom and strength today (1 Cor. 10:11). They’re there so we trust in God rather than shrink under our anxiety and fear. Too often we think whether we flourish or fail depends on us. If we have enough knowledge or information to dictate our next steps, if we have the strength to overcome, if we have the will to endure a trial or resist temptation, or if we think we can handle the challenge in front of us on our own, then we think our future is bright. If we think what’s ahead of us is too big or daunting for us, then we slide into worry or despair.
But the Bible reminds us that our strength, wisdom, help, and deliverance aren’t dependent on us; they’re completely dependent on God being with us.
Let me give you two positive examples and one negative (counter) example of this in the stories of Moses and Israel. As we see ourselves in their stories, we again find God’s presence with us as both our comfort and encouragement.
WHEN GOD IS WITH US
On Mt. Sinai, Moses tried to stiff-arm God’s command to return to Egypt and free His people. It’s a scene like what happens when I ask my kids to clean their cluttered rooms, and they look around in confusion to see who I might be addressing (surely not them). Moses hears God’s call but scratches his head and looks around, hoping God was speaking to some other unlucky bystander. Moses then says, to paraphrase Exodus 3:11, “Me? You want me to do what? I think you have the wrong guy for the job.”
What does God then offer Moses to assure him that this assignment will be a success, despite how outrageous it might sound. He offers Him the only thing needed. “I will be with you” (Ex. 3:12). God assures Moses of strength and success by the promise to be with Him.
Sean Michael Lucas explains, “This is far more than God’s omnipresence. Rather, this is God’s active, powerful presence with his people to deliver (cf. 33:14).”[1] God is with Moses, going before him, fighting his battles, empowering him, and assuring his success. Moses obeys God and orders Pharoah to release Israel. God defeats Pharoah and frees Israel. Because God was with Moses, he had nothing to fear. His mission was guaranteed to be a success because God promised to be with him.
For a second example, consider how Israel survives once they leave Egypt. Between Egypt’s back door and Canaan’s front door they would face numerous dangers and difficulties that threatened their lives and faith. But what was the promise given to them so they could know they would endure every trial and ultimately arrive to God’s stated destination? It wasn’t anything in them, but it was who was with them. God said He was with them in the form of a pillar of cloud by day and fire at night (Ex. 13:21).
God’s presence in the pillar accomplishes a few things. It reminds them that since God is with them, they’re not alone or abandoned in the wilderness. It also assures them God goes before them and is for them, so whoever or whatever else might be against them, the living God who just pinned Pharoah to the mat for a three count is on their side and able to deliver them.
For both Moses and the people of Israel, if God is with them, they can trust in and rest in Him. It doesn’t matter what’s against them if God is with them. His presence offers strength against temptation and support in trials.
Throughout the wilderness, God led, defended, and delivered His people. They still faced threats that caused fear and worry. Their faith was tested. But so long as God was with them, they were kept and cared for all along their winding journey. God’s presence with them is what matters, then and now.
WHEN GOD IS NOT WITH US
We’ve considered two examples of how God being with His people offered hope and help. But sometimes it’s helpful to have a “negative example” to see the same truth from the opposite angle. (Seeing the disaster from Abraham’s web of lies about Sarah makes truthfulness even more compelling.) Just in case we need reminded that our strength, wisdom, and victory are wholly dependent on God—and have nothing to do with us—here’s an example of what happens to Israel when God says He will not be with them.
As God led Israel in the wilderness, they were to trust and obey Him. This always worked out for their good. But the moment they resisted God’s leading and rejected His authority, it hurt them.
Anytime we choose to depart from God’s path it brings trouble and sorrow. It won’t take long before we find ourselves scraped by thorns in the bushes, caught in traps we didn’t foresee, or lost in the woods wondering how to get back.
Numbers 14 provides an example of the truth that if God is with His people, they can do anything, but if He’s not with them, they’re doomed. In Numbers 14, Israel complains and rebels for the umpteenth time in the wilderness. They’re fearful of the land’s inhabitants. They don’t believe God’s Word promising their safety and they don’t like where He’s led them, so they reject God’s command. They hatch a new plan and lobby for a new leader who can escort them back to Egypt (Num. 14:1-4).
If this sounds like a wilderness rerun, it is. Israel had watched God provide and protect them in miraculous ways many timed. They saw God’s wisdom and their foolishness proven when they second-guessed God’s guidance that led them to the Red Sea. But once again, they reject God and desire to do what seems right in their own eyes. They follow their own heart…straight into a path of pain and devastation.
Because of their unbelief and rebellion, God tells them then NOT to fight the Amalekites and Canaanites (Num. 14:25). If the wilderness is a training school, they’re being held back so they can better learn some things.
Israel doesn’t like that option either. They likely realize a bit of their error in not trusting God, so they compound their problems by trying to “fix things.” (Yes, we are just like them.) The problem is the way they fix things looks a lot like the way they got into this mess, doing what makes sense to them and ignoring God’s words. They now disobey God’s clear command and run headfirst (and headstrong) into battle.
This provides us with an example of Israel stepping outside of God leading them and going their own way. You can probably imagine how this plays out. You likely know from both Bible stories and personal experience how God’s ways always prove right in the end. Our foolishness—thinking we know better than God—never works out.
“And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, ‘Here we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.’ 41 But Moses said, ‘Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed? 42 Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. 43 For there the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.’ 44 But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed out of the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah.” (Num. 14:40–45; bold mine)
Israel faced numerous threats and troubles in the wilderness, and every time they trusted and stayed near to God, He took care of them. When God was with them, nothing could stand against them. But the end-results of Israel fleeing God’s presence through their willful disobedience was predictable. Every time Israel strayed from God by trusting in themselves (or some idol in God’s place), anything that stood against them crushed or conquered them.
God’s presence with Israel brought blessing. But when they ignored God’s promise to be with them and took matters into their own hands, it always blew up in their face. They were the same group of people either way, so the deciding factor always remained whether God was “with them” or “not with them.”
COURAGE AND COMFORT IN GOD’S PRESENCE
We have in the wilderness both positive and negative examples showing us if God is with us and for us then nothing can ultimately defeat us. When we follow Him, we can never be off the right path. But when we reject God’s way and blaze our own trail, we shouldn’t be surprised when it doesn’t work out for us.
We trust our instincts, gut, and heart way too much when what we should trust is God’s wisdom, power, and love. Follow Him rather than following your deceptive heart. On your own, you’re toast. But if God is with you, you’re assured His protection, provision, watchful care, strength, and support.
Life, like the wilderness, is full of unknowns and dangers. Many turns offer new trials that stir up our fear, anxiety, worry, and discouragement. But what matters isn’t so much what we’re walking through or toward but who we’re walking with.
This truth is meant to cause encouragement and strength for us today. Jesus assured us that he is with all those who believe and trust in him. “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). Always. God promised to never leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5). The Spirit indwells and empowers us in whatever God calls us to do, however hard it might seem (John 14:16-17).
Whatever God might be calling you to do today, He will empower you with His presence. Whatever stirs up fear, worry, stress, discouragement, or a wave of feeling overwhelmed, is no match for the God who is with you. Remember who the Almighty, sovereign, righteous, glorious, and gracious God is (or call to mind God’s attributes). Then remember that this God is with you. God is who He is for you.
The admonition is not to trust in ourselves or anything else, but to trust in God alone. If He is with us, then we can find comfort and encouragement in knowing that God goes before us, God fights for us, God delivers us, and God has promised our ultimate safe keeping. He will not leave us any of His own (including you) but He also will not lose any of His own (including you).
Whatever you face today, face it knowing God is with you. Take the next step He puts before you in His wisdom, strength, and presence. Since God is with you, nothing can prevail against you.
[1] Sean Michael Lucas, “Exodus,” in Gospel Transformation Bible: English Standard Version, ed. Bryan Chapell and Dane Ortlund (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013), 78.
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