Deuteronomy 31:3-6
YHVH ELO’HEI’CHA HU O’VEYR LE’FA’NEI’CHA
The LORD your God, he will cross over before you (lit., before your face)
HU YASH’MID ET-HA’GOIIM HA’EI’LEH MIL’FA’NEI’CHA
He will destroy these nations from before you (lit., from before your face)
VE’RISH’TAM
and you shall possess them
YE’HO’SHUA HU O’VEYR LI’FA’NEI’CHA
Joshua, he will cross over before your face
CA’ASHER DI’BEYR YHVH
as the LORD has spoken
VE’ASA YHVH LA’HEM CA’A’SHER ASA LE’SI’CHOHN UL’EE’OG MAL’CHEI HA’EMORI
The LORD shall do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites,
UL’ARTZ’AM ASHER HISH’MID O’TAM
and to their land, which (whom) he destroyed.
UN’TANAM YHVH LIF’NEI’CHEM
And the LORD shall give them up before your face.
VA’ASI’TEM LAHEM CE’KOL-HAM’MITZ’VA ASHER TZI’VI’TI ET’CHEM
And you shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you (all).
CHIZ’KU VE’IM’TZU
Be strong and courageous
AL-TIR’U VE’AL-TA’AR’TZU MI’PE’NEI’HEM
Do not be afraid, and do not be rattled before their faces,
CI YHVH ELO’HEI’CHA HU HA’HO’LEICH IM’MACH
for the LORD your God, he is the one who is going with you—
LO YAR’PE’CHA VE’LO YA’AZ’VEH’CHA
He will not fail you, nor forsake you.
This charge, given to Joshua personally* as well as to the whole nation here,
was essentially given to the disciples of our Lord and by extension to us in our generation, as an assurance of victory in life, when he said to them of the Holy Spirit who is given to us through him, “I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you” (John 14:18) and again, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
The Lord Jesus is both with us and for us. As Paul encourages us, saying in Romans 8:31-39,
“What shall we say to these things? I God be for us, who can be against us?
“He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?…
“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us….”
When Moses charged Joshua, he lay on him a mantle of courage and victory. God would be with him. He need not fear, nor dread. He would win the wars that he would wage in Canaan.
We likewise need not fear the world; God is for us; Christ is with us; the Holy Spirit dwells within us forever. What more do we need? As the servant of Elisha exclaimed when God opened his eyes to see the angelic host that was fighting for them, “There be more for us than there are for them!”^
Let this simple realization strengthen you today. Our Lord is with us; he is for us. We cannot lose in the battle of life as we go forth in his power and authority. Take your stand; persevere; rise again when you fall down. You are more than a conqueror through Messiah who loves you.
________
[*Joshua 1:7-9; ^2 Kings 6]
