I will be with you

In my devotional reading this week I find these words:

“Moses said to God, “Who am I to go to Pharaoh and bring the people of Israel out of Egypt?” The Lord answers, “I shall be with you.” That’s all. Simply, I’ll be with you! … In every religious experience in the Bible, a person comes to an experience of God and God says, simply, I shall be with you. I will do it. Trust me. The directions come as you walk the journey. The word is not fully given until the first steps are taken.”

God will be with us – what more do we need to know? But if you’re like me, that is often little consolation. I want to know where I’m going before I begin – what’s my destination, what’s the route I’m going to take, what possible difficulties might I face along the way? But then I remember: one of the best vacations I’ve taken was a three week camping trip with a close friend. Our journey was to visit Niagara Falls, but we didn’t choose a route before we left – choosing instead to follow where our interests and the roads took us, stopping where we chose and visiting places of interest along the way. We travelled for three weeks – partly in campgrounds and partly in motels – without making reservations choosing each day what we were to do. ... ... Isn’t that what God is asking of us – to live our lives knowing that our journey is eternity with God, knowing that God is our constant companion helping us choose each day the road we are to take and the stops we are to make along the way?

Sometimes I think “the word is not fully given until the first steps are taken” because I would be too frightened to take that first step if I knew where it would lead. Trust me, God says, and I hang on – sometimes like a frightened child not daring to look and see what really is. All God asks is that we take the first step... and it usually becomes easier from there. That’s how it was for me following God’s call into full-time ministry.  “You want me to do what? To go where?,” I said. “I can’t possibly do that.  Surely you’re wrong.” (Yep, that’s right – me telling God he was mistaken! Oh the places we allow ourselves to go in order to deny God’s call on our lives.) So God showed me seminary, and I knew it was where I was to be. The first step. It was only after I had actually taken that first step, that I began to see God’s leading – the direction we were headed. But I still only see a little way ahead – and that is good. It helps me to trust more fully that God walks with me; it keeps me more focused on making sure that I walk with God; and it helps me focus on where I am now and what I am called to do, who I am called to be.

God is with you – possibly some of the best words that bring us constant security, comfort, peace, and strength. God is with you, trust that the directions will come as you take each step.