The Lord God shall go before us

The Lord God shall go before us

Deuteronomy 9:2-3 “A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak! Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.”

            In the above passage we can see that the Lord answers a question and confirms that he will go before his children of Israel. The Lord confirms that he will go before them and he will protect them from their enemies. Even in our lives, we need to clearly understand that the Lord God goes before us. When we have the guiding Lord God in front of us, we will never fail. As a part of today’s meditation, let us discuss on the blessings we receive when the Lord God goes before us.

Makes us stand firm

Deuteronomy 9:2 “A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!”

            In this passage we learn about the children of Anak who act as a hindrance to the people of Israel. The history say that no one can stand against Anak because they were great and tall. The above passage we can understand that Israelites already knew (‘…whom thou knowest..’) about the children of Anak in the past. The Israelites thought that the people of Anak were bigger and stronger than them and they questioned as to who will be able to stand before them. The Lord God answers them that it is he who will be going before them. We read in this Deuteronomy 9:3 ‘Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee.’ The Lord assures that he will be with them and he will make them stand firm. In Joshua 11:21 ‘And at that time came Joshua, and cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel: Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities.’ Here we see Joshua utterly destroys the Anakims from their places and brings in a victory. The Lord will enable his children to rise up and stand firm in the places that we could not even stand tall.

            Even in our lives, we might have failed in the past. We would have ruined our present life by thinking about the past failures. Today, the Lord says he will go before us and will make us stand firm. The Lord has prepared a greater victory for his children.

Gives us victory

Deuteronomy 9:3 “Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.”

            Our Lord God will not only make us stand tall but also will give us the victory. When the Lord goes before us, he will reveal himself as a devouring fire. It will completely destroy all the hindrances ahead of his children. The Lord God will drive away all the hindrances we have in our lives. As recorded in the above passage, the Lord’s divine strength will destroy all the evil blocks by going before us. The power of God will also enable us to finish all the works that the Lord began in our lives. We will complete the work by ourselves and we will taste the victory.

Fulfills his word

Deuteronomy 9:5 “Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

            The Lord God is faithful to fulfill all his promises. We need to understand that each and every victory that we receive are the fulfillment of God’s promises in our lives. It is not due to our own efforts or righteousness that we experience the fulfillment. We read in Isaiah 64:6 ‘But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.’ Despite of our uncleanliness, the Lord God was merciful and kind to us. He has cleansed us and given us a blessed life. Nothing and no one can stop the fulfillment of Lord’s words and promises. Therefore, no matter how blessed we are, we must always surrender all the glory and honor to the almighty alone. Amen.