January 30

A Heavenly Escort

Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. — Gen 28:15 BSB

Do we need protection on our journey? Here are the best of protections—God’s presence and preservation. In all places, we need both of these, and in all places, we will have them if we go at the call of duty and not just according to our own desires. Why should we see moving to another country as a sorrowful necessity when it is laid upon us by the divine will? In every land, the believer is a pilgrim and a stranger; and yet, in every region, the Lord is his dwelling place, just as He has been to His saints in all generations. We may miss the protection of an earthly ruler, but when God says, “I will keep you,” we are in no real danger. This is a blessed passport for a traveler and a heavenly escort for an emigrant.

Jacob had never left his father’s house before; he had been a mother’s boy, not an adventurer like his brother. Yet he went abroad, and God went with him. He had little luggage and no attendants; yet no prince ever traveled with a nobler guard. Even while he slept in the open field, angels watched over him, and the Lord God spoke to him. If the Lord bids us go, let us say with our Lord Jesus, “Arise, let us go from here.”