God Is With Us
By Elizabeth Prata
We usually ponder this verse in November and December. But isn’t it also good to ponder it in the middle of the year, too?
It is actually an assurance, promise, and encouragement stated many times in scripture. He is with His people, intimately, assuredly, personally.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:23).
As I go forward in life, year by year, waiting, learning, sinning, repenting, I learn more of the person and God Jesus and of His excellencies. Studying the Annunciation, and thinking of His name Immanuel, God with us, I think of God with Adam and Eve in the Garden right from the beginning- covering them in skins. With Hagar in the desert, wrestling with Jacob through the anxious night, with Abraham on Mt Moriah sacrificing Isaac, with Mary on the flight to Egypt, with Peter on the beach restoring him in love, with John on Patmos … He surely is a God with us!
As you face day after day in Him, perhaps it is in fear, or anxiety, or loneliness … No matter how you feel, even if it is facing the days in excitement, or wonder, or joy (because those are times we tend to not feel like we “need” God) – God is with you! He is W-I-T-H U-S, Immanuel!
teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)
Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER ABANDON YOU,” (Hebrews 13:5)
He is with us every day, not solely at Christmastime! Since He is with us, who can be against us! We are in the hands of the Mighty Savior, He is with His people, and will not leave or forsake us.
