One hot summer day, a friend gave me four free tickets to a New York Yankees baseball game. The year was 2008 and the Yankees were playing one of their very last games at the original Yankee Stadium, and I wanted to take one last look at the stadium, and to say goodbye. In addition, I wanted our three very young daughters to see this historic stadium in the Bronx. I planned out the trip in great detail so we would arrive just in time for the first pitch. We crawled through heavy traffic over the George Washington Bridge, found a parking spot and walked the five minutes to the stadium entrance when we suddenly discovered we had forgotten something in the car. Great. My perfect plan was ruined. My daughters were still quite small, and they walked much slower than me, so I made the decision to leave them at the stadium entrance with thousands of other pin-striped fans while I returned to the car alone. I could tell by the look on my oldest daughter’s face she began to worry. I told her, “Stay together with your sisters. And stay right here.” I ran the entire way to the car, and back. I returned to find my daughters safe and sound. God had protected them. They were never happier to see me. I didn’t at the time, but afterwards I regretted my decision very much. Many years later today, if my daughters were honest, they would say that was not one of my smartest decisions.
Back in March, we studied together as a church family the few “I am” passages in the Book of John. Today, I like to share with you one more. It is not the familiar “I am the Light of the World,” “I am the Good Shepherd,” or “I am the Resurrection and the Life,” but a different kind of “I am.” God says, “I am with you.” The Great I am is with us. The Supreme One is with us always.
How many “I am with you” are there in the Bible? I don’t know exactly, but here are some of them. Check this out.
Deuteronomy 31:6 "Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you."
Joshua 1:9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
Isaiah 41:10 "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
Zephaniah 3:17 "The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."
Hebrews 13:5
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Psalm 23:4
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Do you think God is trying to tell all of us something? I think so. He is trying his best to let us know he is with us. We may not always feel he is with us, but he is. We should never feel that he is not with us. More significantly, for what reason does God reassure his people he is with them? Because he understands that the world is a scary place. The world is an unkind place. The world is a demanding place. God wants us to know he will be there for us. We don’t need to fear or be dismayed. We don’t need to dread for tomorrow. When we don’t find comfort, he is with us to give us comfort. When we don’t find peace, he is with us to give us peace. When we don’t find kindness, he is with us to let us know he saw everything, and he understands.
Matthew 1:23
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel...”
God is with us. We are never alone. It feels we are alone when we are meeting strangers we have never met before, and we don’t know what to say. It feels we are alone when we are prayer walking in our community. But we are not. It ought not to feel creepy to us that God is with us. Rather, it should make us feel secure and comforting. Children understand this when they see their parents are near by. When they are finally reunited with their father in a sea of strangers at a ball game, they can finally breathe again. In the same way, life for us is a little better when you and I know God is with us. God likes to remind us again and again that he is with us because, honestly, you and I need to hear it everyday. He is with us. Until the end.
Matthew 28:20b
"And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”