There’s nothing like the blessing of knowing God is with you. You’ve accepted the sacrificing atonement given through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, turned from your old ways of being and doing, and now being sanctified daily, transformed more and more into the image of Christ. You can now rest in knowing that you are never alone and God is always with you, until the end of the world (see Matthew 28:20).
God has many names, but I’m rejoicing today in His names: Jehovah Immeka, “The Lord is with you”, Jehovah El Roi, “The God who sees,” and Immanuel, “God with us.” His Hebrew names reflect the essence of who He is in many awesome ways.
I love seeing Jehovah Immeka in the book of Judges 6:12 where we meet Gideon when the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” In verses 13-14, Gideon is feeling insecure as God tells him: “…“Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” Then Gideon responds in verses 15-16: “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” Yet God assures him “…Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”
We encounter Jehovah El Roi in the bible in Genesis 16:9-13, where Hagar, a maid fled the harsh treatment of her mistress, Sarai. She was found by the Angel of the Lord who told her to return and submit to Sarai, and blessed her with some prophetic words regarding the future of her family to which she declared she had seen the God who sees. “Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” And the Angel of the Lord said to her:
“Behold, you are with child,
And you shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
Because the Lord has heard your affliction.
He shall be a wild man;
His hand shall be against every man,
And every man’s hand against him.
And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
Further in Matthew 1:19-21, we find a young man named Joseph told by an angel from God in a dream that he was not to be afraid to take Mary, a young virgin to whom he was engaged, to be his wife, as that which had been conceived in her was of the Holy Spirit and that she would have a Son, and he should call him Jesus, as He would save His people from their sins. This was prophecy being fulfilled, that “…was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:22-23) Imagine having to believe something that had never been seen with one’s natural eyes.
Another instance of God’s presence in the bible is the story in the book of Joshua, where Moses has now died and the Lord tells him to cross over Jordan into the land he was giving them and how “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses” (Joshua 1:3). God encouraged him to be strong and courageous that he would be with him as he had been with Moses, and that He wouldn’t leave him.
Moreover, in Joshua 1:7-8, God told Joshua to observe to do according to all the laws that Moses commanded him, and not to turn from them, so that he’d prosper wherever he went. His instructions were that he should keep God’s word in his mouth and meditate on it day and night, and this would make him successful. This is very important information for us today. In addition, God told him in Joshua 1:9, not to be frightened or dismayed, but that he was with him wherever he went. So, not only would he prosper him, but he would be with him everywhere. Who wouldn’t want a God like that?
With that said, please be encouraged that you are never alone, despite how you may feel or how your circumstances might appear. Why? Because God said so. He is our great Shepherd on whom we can surely rely. We see how he cares for the birds of the air and how they don’t plant or harvest or gather in barns and our heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t we much more valuable to Him? (See Matthew 6:26-27.)
Ms. Rita's Minute 