DAILY STRENGTH FOR MEN February 9 (day 2) Passage: Verse in Context - Deuteronomy 31:7-8 NRSV 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." Related Passage - Joshua 1:1-5 NRSV After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying, "My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail your or forsake you." Questions for Reflection and Application * What promises has God made to you? How and when did he make them? * How has God gone before you? How has God gone with you? * Have you had a time in your life where it felt like God had abandoned you? Did he? If not, then why did it feel that way? What did you learn from that experience? * Do you feel closer to God now than you did five years ago, or do you feel further away? Why? Almighty God, you go before and with me. You never leave or forsake me. Amen.