Emmanuel, God With Us Then and Now

Happy December!! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are entering this new month with joy and anticipation as we look forward to celebrating the birth of Jesus.

Today is our older daughter’s 21st birthday! I won’t even go into all that stuff about “Where does the time go?” and “How did we get here?” but it’s definitely all true. I feel very blessed to have had a front-row seat to watch her grow and mature into the amazing young woman that she is. I’m excited to see all that God has for her future!

While our girls were home from college for Thanksgiving break, our younger daughter was playing some Christmas songs on the piano. One of them was “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” It got me thinking about the name of Jesus, Emmanuel, as it’s given in Matthew 1:23.

“ Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.“

God with us. He took on the form of the human beings He’d created and came to live among us. And all for us, so that He could save us, redeem us from our sin, and have us live with Him in Heaven for ever.

While Jesus is no longer here on earth, we know from the Bible that God is with us. It seems like such a simple truth, yet how profound. Yesterday I had to do something that was outside of my comfort zone. I reminded myself several times throughout the day that God was going to be with me in it.

Let’s look at five Scripture verses that talk about God being with us.

1. “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” ~Joshua 1:9

Launching out into something new? God is there. Changing locations or jobs? God is with you. He will give you strength and courage so you don’t need to be afraid.

2. “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” ~Isaiah 41:10

I love that this verse doesn’t say that He will be with us, but that He is. That’s present tense and it means right now. And, just like in the verse above, because His presence is with us, we don’t need to be afraid.

What kind of things might make us afraid? My husband’s been traveling a bit lately which means nights at home alone, so that can be kind of scary. But there are a lot deeper things than that. An uncertain future. A lack of money to pay bills. A sick loved one. Losing our own health.

Those are all real fears, but God is with us in each and every one. He says He will help. He doesn’t want us to be afraid.

3. “…and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” ~Matthew 28:20b

God is with us always. There’s no expiration date on His presence in our lives.

4. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” ~Psalm 23:4

God is with us at our lowest points, even in the valley of the shadow of death. Not only is He with us, but He brings comfort.

5. “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.” ~Zephaniah 3:17

That God would rejoice and sing over me is almost beyond my understanding. How much He loves us!

As we enter this Christmas season, let’s thank God for sending His Son to come and live with us. And then let’s also praise Him that He is with us today. He gives us strength, courage, and comfort so that we don’t have to be afraid.

[Just a quick note. We’re scheduled to move into our new home next week, so I may miss publishing a blog post or two during the transition. We’re not going far – just into a different neighborhood a few miles away – but there’s still lots of packing and then unpacking happening! Thanks for understanding.]

Related posts:

• 11 Common Fears and the Bible Verses We Can Use to Fight Them
• 7 Ways God Is Here for You Today
• 6 Steps for How to Pray When We’re Anxious or Afraid