By: Gina Caswell Kelly
“I am with you.”
I went to Google, the known source for all things factual, (Only kidding) and searched how many times does it say in the Bible that God is with us. The answer was 1,535 times! 88 in Genesis, alone! I did not painstakingly go through my Bible to verify these numbers, but I think we can safely say that God being with us in all we do is a pretty constant theme in the Bible.
One of the places in the Bible where this theme is used is in the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. If you don’t know the story of Joseph, he was one of 12 sons of Jacob. He was the favorite son, and all the brothers knew it. Certainly poor parenting, but God used this flaw in Jacob to bring Joseph to just the right place at just the right time. The brothers were jealous of Joseph and made a plan to get rid of him. They ended up selling him into slavery, which put him in the house of Potiphar, one of the rulers of the day. God was with him. Since God was with him, he grew in wisdom and usefulness in the house, and was eventually placed in charge of all things of the house. Potiphar did not have to give anything a second thought. Enter Potiphar’s wife.
Joseph was a good looking young man, and this was not lost on Potiphar’s wife! She made many plays to entice him into her quarters, but Joseph was loyal to his God and he was loyal to Potiphar and declined these constant invitations. One day she grabbed his robe as he was running from her and then used that as evidence that Joseph was after her. Unfortunately, Potiphar believed his wife and Joseph was sent to prison. But God was with him
Through a series of events, including Joseph’s faithfulness to God, Joseph was eventually released and worked his way up to being second in command in the kingdom. God was with him. Because of his faithfulness, God was able to use Joseph to save the Jewish people from starvation, even his own family.
Well, that is all pretty cool, but he is a Bible character, so of course God was with him. The truth is that Joseph was just a normal guy, living a normal life, but God was with him.
The same is true of us. God would not have said it 1,535 times, if it did not apply to all His children! God is with us each and every day. Every single second. He does not have to wonder what we are up to. He sees our every move and knows our every thought. He is with us!
God is with you, if you have put your trust in Him and have believed that He did indeed send Jesus to die on the cross to pay the cost of your sins. Believe in the One who says, “I am with you.” He means it, and that makes a difference!!
