You Go First - No, you go first!

It is interesting how God will sometimes bring to mind parts of my childhood when I read scripture and meditate on it. Today I was reading the following devotional from Jesus Today with this scripture:

Deuteronomy 31:8 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.

As I read the scripture again tonight, I began to “relive” the scene at our house on Christmas morning. Santa always brought our gifts unwrapped and left them in front of the fireplace. Thanks to my Dad’s staging for home movies, my brother and I had to parade from the hallway into the living room to see our presents from Santa. My brother always made me go first since I was younger, but I didn’t want to go first so we had this argument/debate in the hallway while Dad and Mom were waiting for us to come in. As it turned out, I always made our dog, Nikki, go first because I didn’t want to go first. That was just “little shy me” who wasn’t the clown that my brother was!

Mom always said that I would often hide behind her skirt when others were around. I wanted someone else to go in front of me; to go with me; to take the spotlight off of me. Sometimes I was afraid of the uncertainty of new circumstances and felt better if someone was going through them with me. But I think I just liked it better when I could be part of the background and not center stage. I left that to my brother!

The reading from Jesus Today offers the same theme as spoken from Jesus’ point of view. Jesus is always with us. It is one of his promises, and Jesus doesn’t break a promise. I related to the part where he says that he “is omnipresent: present everywhere at once. This makes it possible for Me to go ahead of you - opening up the way - without ever leaving your side.” (Jesus Today, Sarah Young, printed 2013, page 160-161)

What comfort to know that I don't have to go it alone. I don't have to be the first to go out into that next new experience by myself. Here is my security, my friend, my confidant, my counselor, my encourager who is opening up the way for me without ever leaving me. Jesus is who I need by my side to go with me and to open the way for me.

And the best part is: there is no debate - he’ll always go first!

Thanks for stopping by,

Rachel