Those words were spoken by the Lord to David. We read them in 2 Samuel 7:9, when the Lord is telling Nathan what to say to David in response to his desire to build the Lord a house.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be a prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name…
2 Sam 7:6-9 ESV (emphasis added)
When I read that this week, I got jealous. Not because the Lord cut of all David’s enemies and mine are still around (although, now that I think about it…) No, I read that and thought about what it would be like for the Lord to relay the message to me that He has been with me wherever I’ve gone. How much would that encourage me to know? And by “encourage,” I mean it as actually that, to give me courage. Don’t you wish the Lord told you that?
Actually, He did.
I no sooner had that thought then my mind made the connection: He already did tell me that! Several times, in fact.
Today I’m going to do something different. Rather than cite Bible verses and offer some commentary, I’m going to leave you a few passages to look up. I encourage you to look at one passage below each day for a week. I left a day open for catch-up, or a pat on the back for knocking them all out. Look up the passage; reflect on it, use it to feed your prayers to God (thanksgiving, praise, etc.); and maybe jot down any thoughts you have about the passage.
Feel free to drop me a comment on your research and how this exercise may have helped your time with the Lord.
- Isaiah 41:10-13 _______________________________________________
- Isaiah 43:12 __________________________________________________
- Matthew 28:20 _______________________________________________
- John 14:18 ____________________________________________________
- John 14:26 ____________________________________________________
- Hebrews 13:15 ________________________________________________
The truth is, if we think of the promises of God’s presence to Israel, and apply them to His People today; and the over-and-over again promises of our being “in Christ” in the New Testament; and God’s many promises of His unending regard for us, there are dozens of verses we can recall where the Lord is speaking to us the very same truth He spoke to David, “I have been with you wherever you went.”