“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for Yehovah your God goes with you; He will never leave you or forsake you” [Deuteronomy 31:6]
Yehovah encourages us to trust that what He says will take place, just as he says it will. In a world that encourages us to believe in ourselves and to achieve all we think we deserve, it is important to understand that we who are followers of the Messiah Jesus are bought and paid for by his shed blood, and as a result we are his slaves - bondservants and also slaves of Yehovah, because whatever Jesus did he did as His Father's agent.
[Under the Jewish law of agency the main point is expressed in the dictum, “a person's agent is regarded as the person himself” - so when Jesus was on the cross shedding his blood he was acting as Yehovah's Shariah - agent]
Society sets a bar to earn and accumulate. Accomplishments and accessories are lauded above humility and our God-ordained purpose. “Very often, people have a hard time taking God at His word and they do that to their own detriment. “If God says it, that settles it, and there is absolutely no reason to doubt that He says” So, in place of worldly standards, the Old Testament admonishment of Deuteronomy 31:6 serves as a benchmark in our everyday lives.
Hebrews 13:5: echoes the same sentiment, putting an extra emphasis on what not to have confidence in: “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”
What is the context of Deuteronomy 3:16 in the Bible?
It was written to encourage the people of Isreal. The reality of their lives was presented with insurmountable challenges, and God wanted them to know unequivocally that they could trust Him to lead them to victory. It was a call to obedience amidst great adversity. Two verses later Yehovah repeated His admonition: “Yehovah Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” When God promises “always” or “never” He can be fully trusted to honor His word Numbers 23:19: God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Imagine having to follow Moses. Joshua’s call was to lead the Israelites into the promised land Moses had been guiding them towards for forty years. Surely, he harbored doubts of his own. But God assured him in Joshua 1:5: “No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.”
The legacy of our God and our Father Yehovah’s character resonates in Solomon’s reaffirmation when the temple in Jerusalem finally came to fruition: “May Yehovah our God be with us as He was with our ancestors; may He never leave us or abandon us” [1 Kings 8:57]. Yehovah is a compassionate Father who loves us with deep and abiding steadfast love. The verses quoted above simultaneously honor Him for all He is and brings Him closer to us as the compassionate Creator of our hearts.
In Genesis 28:15 Yehovah says to Jacob: “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Hebrews 13:5: applies the same concept provisionally, both spiritually. The author, of the epistle of Hebrews, was possibly Apollos or Barabas, writing primarily to Jewish disciples. The transition from the traditional Jewish faith to following the Messiah Jesus led to Paul and others to emphatically remind believing disciples that efforts to earn their salvation by the works of the law were no longer acceptable. As new creations in the Messiah Jesus, they were to obey all the words that Yehovah gave to him to give to them, and I might add to us!
Under the new covenant disciples of the Messiah Jesus are commissioned to proclaim and publish the good news message of the coming kingdom of God and the name of Jesus to all nations.
In each individual life, God provides what they need in order for them to hear His message of salvation. The love of money threatens to steal the message of salvation from our hearts, and when it does we lose sight of the way God has provided for us. We are created to honor Him and become more like His uniquely begotten son Jesus.
Jesus said, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” [Luke 12:15] Our current historical surroundings are consumed with covetousness. Social media is a breeding ground for us to long for what we really don't need, and to be motivated to want more and more.
The apostle Paul, through much tribulation, stated he had “learned in whatever situation to be content” [Philippians 4:11]. “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” [Philippians 4:12-13]. Paul knew the way to be strong and courageous was through the Messiah Jesus who strengthens us, not just in adversity, but when we experience success, and the temptation to then sit by idle and comfortable.
What does it mean for Christians to have God with them always?
“But if the Messiah is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised the Messiah Jesus from among the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwells in you. So then, brothers/sisters we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.” [Romans 8:10-12].
When we profess Jesus the Messiah as our Lord and
Savior, we are sealed by the Spirit of God. From that point on, the Spirit of our God and Father Yehovah and His son lives in us. The Holy Spirit is transforming us as our hearts are sanctified [set apart] to become more like the son of God until the day we are resurrected. Our enemy can try to cause us to fall and fail, but our
entire being is off limits because we are His. There is nothing we can or need to do
to earn it. His amazing grace and love are enough.
In our brokenness and weakness, He uses us enabled by His Spirit to spread the Gospel message across the face of the earth until every ear has heard. To have God with us, always, means we can be strong and courageous because the source of our strength lives in us.
“But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” [1 Timothy 6:6-10]
Matthew 6:25-33: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
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