He's got this

Deuteronomy 31:8

Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you. (New Living Translation - NLT)

It is the Lord Who goes before you; He will [march] with you; He will not fail you or let you go or forsake you; [let there be no cowardice or flinching, but] fear not, neither become broken [in spirit—depressed, dismayed, and unnerved with alarm]. (Amplified)

The Lord will lead you. He himself is with you. He will not fail you or leave you. Don’t worry. Don’t be afraid! (Easy to Read Version - ERV)

It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. (English Standard Version – ESV)

The Lord is the one who is going ahead of you. He will be with you. He won’t abandon you or leave you. So don’t be afraid or terrified. (God's Word Translation – GW)

The Lord is the One who will go before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged. (Holman Christian Standard Bible – HCSB)

Indeed, the Lord is the one who will keep on walking in front of you. He’ll be with you and won’t leave you or abandon you, so never be afraid and never be dismayed.

(International Standard Version – ISV)

God is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t worry. (The Message paraphrase – MSG)

The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. (New American Standard Bible – NASB)

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. (New International Version - NIV)

And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed. (New King James Version – NKJV)

And He will be leading you. He’ll be with you, and He’ll never fail you or abandon you. So don’t be afraid! (The Voice translation – VOICE)

What's going on here?

Moses has called the children of Israel together.

They are about to go into the Promised Land of Canaan.

Moses knows he's going to die soon & not go with them.

Joshua is to be their leader as they fight to take Canaan for their own.

And this verse is part of what Moses says to Joshua as Joshua prepares to take over the responsibility of leading the Jews, & leading them as they giht against the kingdoms of people who live there.

I can't imagine what must have been going through Joshua's mind at the time. The leader he had known all his life was going to die & Joshua was going to be in charge of them.

And he was also going to take this crazy bunch of people into a land that God had promised to be theirs & wrestle it's possession from a whole raft of different kingdoms & peoples.

Yeah, I'd be terrified too!

We know the end of the story – Joshua did lead the Jews into Canaan, & led them well.

And they did wrestle the kingdoms from the people who lived there.

And we all face things each day, in each season of our lives, that terrify us.

And we can hang on to the same promises that God gave Moses to speak to Joshua...

We don't need to be afraid of what's ahead...

We don't need to get discouraged as we struggle through it...

God is up ahead of us in the future, preparing the way for us – whatever that way may be...

God's gonna be with us in it, every step of the way...

He's not gonna leave us in the lurch...

Nor is He gonna leave us all alone.

I don't know about you, but I need to hold on to that enormous promise.

Maybe you do too.

It's one I've tried to remind myself when I get terrified &/or overwhelmed by life.

And if you know me at all, I can get to be one or both a lot easier than I'd like to admit.

Maybe you, too.

Don't be afraid.

Don't get discouraged.

God is out there in the future, preparing the way for each of us.

Because God operates outside of time, He not only will be our there in the future, but will be with each of us right now.

People fail us & let us down – God won't.

And lots of the time, people just leave us in the dust – out of sight is out of mind – or they just don't care about us – God's not gonna leave us in the dust.

I'm saying all this more for me than for you – but if it was true for Joshua, it's true for you & me.