You spent the last forty years serving the great leader Moses, being alongside him daily, and remained in the Tent of Meeting with the presence of God while Moses spoke to the masses. But… today, Moses is gone. God calls you to lead His people in the place of the greatest leader the nation has known. You are humbled by the intent of God for you to be His next leader of more than 600,000 Israelites.
You have no presumption that you are sufficient for the task. Lead the Israelites? It was only a generation ago you were unable to convince the parents of these Israelites to follow God into the promised land. You have seen God’s leading of Moses but now God is calling you to serve Him without Moses. Just how much more difficult is serving God than man? This is responsibility beyond the way you see yourself.
In the course of the conversation with the Lᴏʀᴅ, the Lᴏʀᴅ three times emphasizes the “Be strong and courageous” mindset which is the result of getting your eyes off what you see and letting God be God:
Yes, Moses is dead but you are to now serve the Lᴏʀᴅ who will not die. Perspective is ‘God is with you wherever you go’ so there is no reason to be afraid of the circumstances or put off by the magnitude of the opportunities. ‘God with you’ is wholly sufficient for your life.
Oh yes, ‘God with you’ will soon enough be known as Emmanuel—God with us.