Here’s an understatement: Moses did not have an easy job.
The Old Testament prophet led God’s people from slavery in Egypt, guiding perhaps two million of them to freedom through the parted waters of the Red Sea, then endured 40 years trying to corral the rebellious and stiff-necked bunch on a meandering trek through the desert wilderness.
God’s promised land was their destination, but in no way did God’s wandering lot believe that getting there was half the fun. They grumbled and stumbled – physically, emotionally, and spiritually – most every cantankerous step of their crooked way. So it’s no stretch to imagine Moses being tempted daily to resign his position: “That’s it. I quit. Let someone else do the dirty work.”
Yet the job must have had its upsides, because Moses sticks with it to the end. And after four decades of grueling travel, he and his charges at long last stand on the banks of the Jordan River, at the edge of the Promised Land. And in this morning’s Scripture lesson, Moses makes a bombshell announcement from river’s edge: At age 120, he is unable to lead them any farther. But the decision to step down really isn’t his call to make. The Lord already has told Moses that he will not cross into the Promised Land.
I’m reading to you from the Old Testament’s book of Deuteronomy. Listen for God’s Word to you this day –
Moses said to God’s chosen people, “I am now 120 years old. I am no longer able to get about, and the LORD has told me, ‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’ But the LORD your God himself will cross over before you. [My successor] Joshua also will cross over before you, as the LORD promised.
“The LORD will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. The LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. The LORD will give them over to you, and you shall deal with them in full accord with the command that I have given to you.
“Be strong and bold! Have no fear or dread of them, because it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”
Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel: “Be strong and bold, for you are the one who will go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their ancestors to give them, and you will put them in possession of it. It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:1-8)
What a pivotal moment of anxious change in the stunning history of God’s people!
Word that the Israelites will be losing their longtime leader is disturbing and disruptive – a gut-punch of disappointment that takes your breath away, a bolt from the blue that leaves you stunned and slack-jawwed. Who among us at one time or another hasn’t stood in the same fearful place of heartbreaking change and anxious unknowns? Yet with his very next breath, Moses full-throatedly announces good news of great joy: The Lord God will continue to abide among them!
God never failing! God never leaving! God never forsaking!
Generations later, Jesus himself delivers similar assurance before leaving the confines of earth and returning to the eternity of heaven: “Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
Then as now, the Lord our God remains at our side when overwhelming change upsets the apple cart of our living, moving, and breathing: As when your children leave home. As when you have to leave your home. As when death snatches away a loved one. As when your studies, or your career – or your health – takes a sudden turn for the worse.
Changes of life feel scary and risky, and as God’s people line on the banks of the River Jordan, they grapple with the reality that after 40 years Moses no longer will be leader of the pack. He has guided them; he has instructed them; he has prayed for them. For Moses that holy work is done, and the duty now falls to Joshua – surely not an unknown face in the crowd, but definitely a greenhorn mentor and guide untested by the weighty demands of leadership. And into such unstable air, Moses exhales assurance in the sure-goodness of God’s never-ending presence –
“Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid, and do not panic. For the LORD your God personally goes ahead of you. God neither fails nor abandons. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.” Whatever the battle of personal or community challenge that lies ahead, Jesus later declares “Lo, I am with you always.”
When Jesus offers that assurance at the conclusion of Matthew’s Gospel, he’s making a postscript to the Great Commission that he leaves behind: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
Because it comes from Jesus, this call to go, baptize, and teach encapsulates a mindset more than a command on what to do. First and foremost, fulfilling the command demands our faithful and courageous discipleship – as individuals and as the Body. To enable the baptism of another into the name – into the way of living that graciously reflects Father, Son, and Spirit, we faithful and courageous disciples must nestle ourselves in close communion with Father, Son, and Spirit. To be able to teach others to obey what Jesus has commanded, we must have learned and submitted to the same by the Spirit’s powerful encouragement. And the Spirit often demands our wrestling with a major change of one’s heart. And again – no, change is never easy.
But thanks be to God, Jesus Christ gives his followers a daunting task rooted in a way of being to which we can return whenever we feel stuck, hesitant, clueless, or afraid about what to do next – whenever wavering about what is right, whenever confused in times of change, whenever battles and struggles loom large on the horizon. If you are well-rooted in the ways of grace that Jesus embodies, the call of the prophets echoes true –
“Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid, and do not panic. For the LORD your God personally goes ahead of you. God neither fails nor abandons. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. … Lo, I am with you always.”
Since you are well-rooted in the ways of grace that Jesus embodies, the call of the prophets echoes true! That is the Lord’s gift to all his people across all time and place.
God in Christ knows us to be people who know we are completely dependent upon him – totally and graciously reliant on the gift and promise that he is with us always through the presence of the Holy Spirit, and God in Christ so also knows us to be people easily overwhelmed by both good and bad news that makes us waver and quiver with fear and doubt.
The Lord God’s promised presence is the solution for human wavering.
Seeking the God who is with us in every circumstance, doing what it is that Christ has taught us to do, living in daily intimacy with the Spirit, you can turn your wavering into moments of discerning. When you find yourself frozen and unable to act, pause and reflect – seize hold of promised provision in Father, Son, and Spirit: through prayer, through wise counsel, through laboring with others.
Wrapping your head and heart around that becomes a whole lot easier when you stop thinking of courage and fear, faith and doubt, as black-and-white polar opposites and start regarding courage, fear, faith, and doubt as feelings you may hold simultaneously as part and parcel of what it means to be a finite human. As much as courage and faith, perhaps then our fear and doubt so also come as Creator-designed gifts that make space for your actually putting into daily practice what it truly means to be a disciple of Christ. The Great Commission and Promise, it turns out, aren’t for just for the big stuff. Those ancient-but-ever-true words also are for our everyday lives as Christ’s disciples.
A young couple was preparing to move into their first home together, and they had a lot of cleaning to do before they could carry in their belongings. With sleeves rolled up, one began mopping the floors with gusto. But the other wandered aimlessly around the apartment clutching a cleaning rag that never touched a dusty surface! A half-hour passed by, and the aimless one came into the living room and said to partner, “I’m useless!” But in the end, the two were having a quite-faithful moment. As one explained to partner, “How very wonderful that this next stage of our lives is unfolding. But the whole thing feels surreal: Are we really doing this?!” And the other replied, “We have God. We have each other. And that’ll always be enough.”
Even good stuff spikes stress and anxiety, and freezing up in the moment is bound to happen. Sometimes the cleaning rag never lands upon even one speck of dust! As you try to piece together a reality that just seems too incredible, your heart and mind – your soul and spirit – just need a minute to adjust. Or maybe two or three! Moses knew it; Jesus did, too. Thus it really is true: The gift of the Holy Spirit remains present, helping us all keep it all together, so that you and I actually can do what God is commanding: Be not afraid, go and make disciples.
Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God: May it be so – for you and for me, in the unsettling days that lie ahead for us all.
With believers in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen, and amen!
Pastor Grant M. VanderVelden shared this message during worship on Sunday, August 2, 2026, at First Presbyterian Church in Waukon, Iowa, USA. Scholarship, commentary, and reflection by Darryl Dash, Chelsey Harmon, and Palitha Jayasooriya inform the message.