I Will Go Before You
“And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you, He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.” – Deuteronomy 31:8
One of the reassuring promises God has given us is that ‘He will go before us’. Anyone that walk, stands or runs before you is in front of you or ahead of you. In every respect, in every area and situation, God is ahead of us. When it comes to time, God is way ahead of us. He knows things that will happen long before those events take place. Before our parents even thought of having us, God knew everything about us. Our past, present and future is right before God. God told the prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). Before Peter denied Jesus, God knew he would. “Jesus said to him, Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times” (Matthew 26:34). Doesn’t it make sense to walk with and put our trust in the One who is ahead of us and has all the necessary information we need for our today as well as our tomorrow?
There are four main reasons why God goes before us. The first is to guide and direct us on the right path. In Exodus 13:21-22, we are told that the Lord went before the Israelites by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way for the Israelites, to show them the path to follow as they journeyed through the wilderness. Exodus 40:36-37 tells us that if the pillar of cloud was not taken up, then the Israelites did not journey till the day it was taken up. The pillar of cloud is symbolic of the presence of God. God led them by His holy presence. Most of the problems we have in life is that we set out, we take decisions, we embark on projects, start businesses or relationships, when the pillar of cloud has not been taken up; we move ahead of the pillar of cloud, ahead of God. We do things outside the presence of God, outside of God’s leading and direction. It is only when we follow behind God and not get ahead of ourselves that we can discover the path that is best suited for us.
The other reason why God goes before us is to clear our path of every obstacle, hindrance, barrier limitation, obstruction and impediment to our moving forward in life. These obstructions could be in the mind; faulty thinking that limits us. They could be satanic or demonic. The Prince of Persia that held down the answer to Daniel’s prayer for twenty-one days was a satanic barrier (Daniel 10:13). Health challenges can be an impediment that keeps us from doing the things we ought to do. There could be financial limitations like financial insufficiency, poverty and debts that slow us down and keep us from achieving significant things. Whatever be the hindrance before us, they can be brought down when God goes before us. In Isaiah 45:2 God says “I will go before you and make the crooked places straight. I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron.”
God also goes ahead of us to fight for us, to fight battles we don’t have the capacity to fight on our own. “The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes.” (Deuteronomy 1:30). We are engaged in a spiritual fight (Ephesians 6:12). There are all kinds of forces and powers of darkness working against the fulfillment of God’s purpose for our lives. They hold meeting of darkness where they plot and plan evil for us. God goes ahead of us to fight for us, to strike their camp with confusion so they can’t carry out their evil enterprise (2 Samuel 5:24). As God goes ahead of us, the power of His presence scatters and brings down anything and anyone standing in our way to oppose and resist us from making progress in life.
When God says He will go ahead of us, it is a word of encouragement to us that no matter what comes our way we should not be troubled, worried and agitated. When Jesus was crucified, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome went early in the morning to the tomb to anoint Jesus. They knew a large stone had been used to block the entrance to the tomb and were wondering how on earth three women could move such a massive stone. Only to discover that God had already gone ahead of them and rolled the stone away (Mark 16:1-3). This is what God going ahead of us means. It means that when there are needs to be met, problems to be resolved, hurdles to scale, we should not be discouraged and afraid because GOD has gone ahead of us to take absolute control of everything that concerns us.
PRAYER
Father, please go ahead of me to lead and direct me each day. Go ahead of me and clear all obstructions in my way. Go ahead of me and fight for me. Thank You Lord that You are with me every day, every hour, every moment and in every situation. Therefore, I shall not be afraid or discouraged.
PHOTO CREDIT: Pixabay
