Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. (Deuteronomy 31:6)
Jacob, the father of Joseph, reached the time in his life when he knew he would soon meet God. The days of his earthly journey were nearing their end. In Genesis 48:21, he said to Joseph, “Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.”
We read in Genesis 48:1 that Joseph was called to his father’s side, and he took his two sons with him. He wanted them to hear something from their grandfather. As he spoke, Jacob said, “God shall be with you.”—this is a powerful truth.
Moses gave this same encouragement to Joshua in Deuteronomy 31:6. He said, “The LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee.” As believers, we are never alone. God has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). We do not live in loneliness because God is with us.
God’s Presence
When Joseph was called to see his father, we read that Jacob strengthened himself and sat up to speak with his son. The Bible says in Genesis 48:3, “And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me.” The first thing Jacob said was, “God came to me. God was with me.”
In John 14:16-17, Christ promised that He would send a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to indwell every believer. If you are a child of God, the eternal, Almighty God is living in you today. Think of His presence in your life.
How many days do we live and never really recognize that God is with us? When we ask the Lord to forgive our sin and receive Christ as Savior by faith, the Lord Jesus comes to live in us, and the Bible says He will dwell in us forever.
God’s Power
Jacob said, “God shall be with you.” When we have His presence, we also have His power available to us. As we think of Jacob’s life, Jacob had certainly seen disappointment and heartache, but God by His power sustained him until his dying day.
In Genesis chapter forty-eight, Jacob rehearsed some of his testimony. In verse seven, he talked about Rachel dying. What was this old man saying to Joseph? He was saying that God gave him strength to go on living. God’s power enabled him.
As we look at our own lives, we must understand that we can do nothing without the Lord. Jesus Christ said, “Without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). You may be broken and troubled, but God wants to prove Himself to you. By God’s power, we can do what we should do in our lives.
God’s Peace
Jacob said to Joseph, “Behold, I die.” He was not panicking. He simply said, “I am going to die, son.” God’s grace enables a man to look at death in that way.
Jacob had perfect peace—God’s peace. He said, “God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.” He knew that God was in control and that the Lord would work everything out perfectly.
Many people today are worried. Why? Because they fail to see God’s promises and they do not appropriate those promises to their lives. There is no peace without resting in the Lord. We can trust God with everything. The peace of God comes by placing our faith in Him.