He said, “Certainly I will be with you. …”

– Exodus 3:12

Moses had spent the last forty years of his life in Midian, looking after his father-in-law’s sheep. His days of luxury and privilege in Pharaoh’s house were a distant memory. He had to flee Egypt because Pharaoh sought his life for killing an Egyptian taskmaster who was beating his fellow Israelite. And his own people didn’t appreciate what he did either.

So the wilderness became his safe place… a place where he didn’t have to walk the fine line between pleasing Pharaoh and helping his people. He probably felt for what his suffering brothers and sisters were going through hundreds of miles away, but what could he do about it? He was just one man.

But then God, the God of his forefathers, appeared to him in a burning bush. God told Moses He “knew“ ¹ His people’s suffering, and He was about to act to save them from their bondage and bring them into a land “flowing with milk and honey.” God told Moses he was the man chosen to be the instrument of this deliverance. He said, “Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Moses thought God had the wrong man. He said, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” Moses had been a shepherd for decades, a job title disdained by the Egyptians. He no longer had any influence, power, or authority. This was an impossible mission, and he knew it.

But God’s answered his objection with a most comforting and assuring promise, “I will certainly be with you.” Whatever Moses lacked was unimportant, for God would be with him. Moses was to cease focusing on his own inadequacies, and rely solely in God’s presence.

Notice God didn’t give any details about how He would help Moses. He didn’t say would protect him from Pharaoh. He didn’t say He would provide the words to say to Pharaoh when they met. He didn’t tell him of the miracles He would work through him. All He said was “I will certainly be with you,” and that was the only thing Moses needed to hear.

God also offered no up-front sign or proof that He would be with Moses. In fact, the proof would not come until much later, after he stepped out in faith and obeyed: “…This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.“

Moses would have to trust God for a while before he would see this promise fulfilled. Many months would pass. Other things would happen first: Moses would confront Pharaoh multiple times, there would be many plagues on the Egyptians, the Hebrews would celebrate their first Passover, they would cross the Red Sea, and so on. Moses would have to take God at His word from the very beginning… it would be a long time before this final proof would come to pass.

That’s not the way we normally operate. We want God to show us some sign before we will trust and obey. But we need to follow Moses’ example: step out in faith, trust and obey without an immediate sign, and let the proof of God being with us come later.

Moses didn’t want to go, but eventually he did. As he obeyed, he began to see God prove His promise. He saw God was with him when Aaron’s rod become a snake in Pharaoh’s court. He saw God was with him when the water turned to blood. The frogs, the flies, the boils.. these all served to reassure Moses that was still God with him.

Moses may have had doubts at first. How long would God stay with him? Perhaps God would only help him in the beginning, then leave him to deliver the Israelites on his own. But no. God never failed in His promise. As Moses did the things God told him to do, he became convinced that God would never leave him. By the time Moses arrived at Mount Horeb with the rest of his people, his trust in God’s faithfulness was absolute.

The real meaning of the promise was that God would never abandon him. This was an unconditional promise. As such, nobody, not even Moses himself, could screw it up. Yes, God got angry at times with Moses and His people, but He never abandoned them. ²

When Moses reached the end of his life, he passed on the assurance of God’s presence to Joshua:

Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous: for you shall go with this people into the land which Yahweh has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall cause them to inherit it. Yahweh, he it is who does go before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you, neither forsake you: don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:7-8)

Moses based this on his own experience of God’s faithfulness to himself. And God spoke to Joshua to confirmed it in Joshua 1:5 and 9. This is why Joshua, along with Moses, remained strong in the Lord to the end of their lives. They discovered God keeps His promises no matter what. ³

Jesus is called Immanuel in Matthew 1:23, which means “God with us.” For those of us who have trusted in Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, God is with us as well, and this relationship is just as sure and permanent. You can trust God absolutely with all the issues of your life. The benefits of “God with us” are life-long.

What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

– Romans 8:31