My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. Exodus 33:14
I will never forget my first stay in the hospital. As a young boy of 7, I had contracted tuberculosis of the hip.
I had never spent the night away from home before, and the prospect of being hospitalized frightened me.
As my condition worsened, the doctors decided to try a medical procedure that would be extremely painful and thus require anesthesia. Dr.John made it easier for me, however, by permitting my father to stay with me in the operating room. As the sedative was about to be administered, I said, “Doctor, can I see my daddy just once more?” My father took my hand in his own and said, “Be a good boy, Henry. Everything is going to be all right. Just take three long, deep breaths and you’ll be asleep. I’ll be here by your side the whole time.”
I did what he said and came through the operation successfully. Knowing that my father would be there beside me all the time removed my fear and gave me peace. And when I awoke in the recovery room, he was still there.
So too, our heavenly Father will be near us in every situation and in every difficulty we may face. Just as He reassured Moses of His presence, we can be sure that He will be with us and give us rest.
O Thou, in whose presence my soul takes delight,
On whom in affliction I call,
My comfort by day and my song in the night,
My hope, my salvation, my all. —Swain
With God behind you,
you can face whatever is ahead of you.
12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ 13 “Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” 14And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 “For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” 17So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.”
Insight
God’s promise of His abiding presence to Israel is a blessing that we can know as Christians as well. In John 14:18, Jesus promises that we will never be abandoned. Why? Because of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of God’s child.
