Lately I've been struggling with some things. Some of these things are related to my future endeavors, as my time as a college student is rapidly coming to an end and I am preparing to face this big bad world head-on. Some of these things are related to homesickness and loneliness. Some are related to issues in relationships. Some are related to coming face-to-face with huge sin patterns in my life, of which I'd never thought I'd wrestled with before. My internship at DHS has given me chances to see how seriously messed up this world can be, and I have shed many tears for the clients I have served so far. There's been much stress, much worry, much anguish over the past month or so.
Deuteronomy 31 houses a very well-known passage of Scripture; one that I have likely quoted before and one that tends to bring comfort in difficult situations.
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." (Verse 6)
This verse is quoted in the book of Hebrews as well and over the summer, I happened to be reading both the original context of this Scripture and the quoted context of this Scripture in Hebrews simultaneously, which was really stinking cool and really stinking important. At the time that I was reading these passages, I had no idea what challenges lay ahead of me in the coming months, but now I have a slight feeling that God was very intentional about the timing of these coinciding devotionals.
The background to which these words are originally referring in Deuteronomy brings much power to their meaning. The Israelites had been through a lot together by this time. They were enslaved in Egypt, freed from Egypt's reign, they fought in wars, they walked through the Red Sea, received the Ten Commandments, got into crazy shenanigans that made God upset, were graciously forgiven by that same God, wandered through the desert with a cloud as their guide by day and a pillar of fire as their guide by night, they'd seen new life created and said good-bye to loved ones, and all the while, Moses (with the spirit of God guiding him) was leading them through it all. But, by the time of Deuteronomy 31, everyone knew that their leader, Moses, (who was not only their leader, but also their advocate and their vehicle to interact with The Lord) would soon be dead.
Holy crap that would be so terrifying.
So The Lord knows exactly how terrified the Israelites must feel, so has Moses give them this speech in Deuteronomy 31. All throughout this chapter, Moses makes sure to say all the things that THE LORD plans on doing for them once he is gone. In this he emphasizes that it was never actually him (Moses) that was providing the hope, the safety, the comfort to get them to the Promised Land but it was GOD that was faithful, it was GOD that led the way before them, it was GOD that protected them, and it would be GOD that would fulfill His promises by never leaving or forsaking His people.
So how can we relate to this now?
Well, I don't know about you, but when I am going through periods of hardship, I find myself in an ocean, getting tossed back and forth by the wind and the waves, so to speak, but I'm afraid to let an anchor down in the midst of it because in the past, my choice of anchor has only led me to further destruction. The Israelites faced this same conundrum - they had used Moses as an "anchor" to keep them from harm's way for so long, but Moses DIED. I've made anchors out of people, emotions and worthless idols in the past and they have all left me stranded and broken. But there's one Anchor that has promised to keep us grounded, even in the midst of the storms, and of course that is my pal Jesus.
I don't want this to sound cheesy or cliche, because it is absolutely NOT either of those things. The Lord has pressed upon me this need to ask myself daily, hourly, even SECONDLY, if necessary, where I am putting my trust and my hope and I feel like He wants you to do the same. Because although it is a risk to put your trust into Someone who is unseen, it is 100% worth it to know that that Someone has promised to NEVER leave you nor forsake you.
