I enjoy doing a daily devotional exercise from Loyola Publishing. I particularly enjoyed this morning’s meditation. You can do the same by accessing the entire meditation—free of charge—at https://www.loyolapress.com/retreats/the-lord-goes-before-you-start-retreat/. (It takes about three minutes to go through the retreat. Just saying.)

Here is the Scripture on which today’s “3-Minute Retreat” was based. “It is the LORD who marches before you; he will be with you and will never fail you or forsake you. So do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:8)

So, what has Deuteronomy 31:8 got to say to us? A lot!

The Israelites were about to enter the promised land, after wandering in the wilderness for forty years. They had gotten lost, because they had lost their GPS, their “God Positioning System.”

Or rather, their parents had lost their GPS. Their parents, even after seeing God’s miracle-working power in rescuing them from slavery in Egypt and preserving them in the wilderness, had come to the very edge of the promised land forty years earlier. But they decided that they were not able to enter the land. Best to go back to Egypt! Best to go back to slavery.

God said to them, “No, you can’t go back to Egypt. But you won’t go into the promised land either. You will die in the wilderness since you refuse to trust me.”

And now the children of these needless wanderers are themselves standing on the brink of the Promise. Like any of us who are standing on the brink of a major unknown, they needed some reassurance.

I looked at Deuteronomy 31:8 in Hebrew. There were several fascinating things that are difficult to put into an English translation. This gets a bit technical but hang with me; it is worth the effort!

 First, God emphasizes that He—God—will be with them. In Hebrew, as in many languages, the verb does not need to be expressed for simple, short statements.  Therefore, if the independent pronoun is included, it is often for emphasis. The independent pronoun that stands in for God (“he”) occurs twice in this little verse, even though grammatically it is not needed for making sense of the sentence. God is underlining the fact that He, their God, will go before them. God does not lead from the rear. God goes in on the first wave of this battle.

Second, God will not only go ahead of them. God will be with them. God is not simply a God who leads. God is also a God who accompanies.

Third, Go encourages the Israelites not to fear or be dismayed. In fact, the Hebrew word that is translated “dismayed” in many English translations is quite a bit stronger than our word “dismay” suggests. The Hebrew word is used (sometimes literally) for something or someone who is broken. In a more metaphorical sense, it connotes panic. If God is God and if God is with us, then panic is always premature.

The retreat from Loyola connects Deuteronomy 31:8 with the New Testament in an interesting manner.

“We have every reason to trust in God. The Book of Deuteronomy promises that the Lord goes ahead of us and will never abandon us. Jesus is the fulfillment of this promise. By his Incarnation, Jesus accompanied us in our human experience. When we call Jesus Emmanuel, which means “God is with us,” we are reminded that we are not alone. After the Resurrection, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be with the disciples and to remain with us always. There is no reason to fear.”

No reason to fear! That is always a good thing to remember.