“I Am with You, I Will Keep You, and Bring You Back to This Land”
Jacob, the father of the patriarchs, after obtaining the birthright from his brother Esau by deception, feared that his brother would kill him, so he fled to the land of his uncle Laban. While he was afraid, on the road, fleeing and far from his father’s house, the Lord met him on the way and comforted him, saying:
“Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land” (Gen. 28:15).
“I will keep you, and bring you back to this land.”
The expression “I will keep you… I will bring you back… I am with you” reveals the divine work in a person’s life. It speaks of God’s protection and also of His reassuring promises to the human soul.
Jacob was not able to protect himself on a road full of dangers, with his violent brother Esau against him. Nor was he able to bring himself back to that land. Here God intervened.
Likewise, when the people were in the land of exile, sitting by the rivers of Babylon and weeping, unable to bring themselves back, the Lord addressed the weeping people with the same promise: “I will keep you, and bring you back to this land.”
Indeed, the Lord restored the captivity of Zion. The returned exiles rebuilt the broken walls of Jerusalem and repaired its gates that had been burned with fire, just as the Lord restored Jacob and delivered him from Esau.
It is God’s work on behalf of the soul that is unable to save itself.
After Adam was driven out of Paradise, he was not able to save himself.
Yet at the very moment of the punishment, the Lord gave him the same promise: “I will keep you, and bring you back to this land,” through the promise that “the Seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head.” And indeed, the Lord restored Adam and his children to Paradise.
The Lord may delay restoring a person, but He will surely restore him at the time determined by divine wisdom, in the fullness of time.
Jacob was restored after twenty years. The captives in Babylon were restored after seventy years. Adam’s captivity was reversed after more than five thousand years.
God’s punishment is not everlasting. He does not remain angry forever, nor does He keep His wrath to all generations. His promises are true.
He has restored many who were sinners and unable to restore themselves.
Adam had sinned against the Lord. So had Jacob, who deceived his father, and the children of Israel, who worshiped idols. Adam, Jacob, and the children of Israel were all unable to restore themselves.
These are all examples of hope, revealing God’s work in salvation.
How wonderful it is that God says to the sinner, “I am with you… and I will bring you back to this land.”
The lost sheep could not return itself to the fold.
The lost coin could not return itself to its owner’s purse.
Jonah, in the belly of the great fish, could not return to behold God’s holy temple once again.
But the only hope for all of them was the Lord’s promise: “I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land.”
What is impossible with men is possible with God.
The Three Holy Youths were cast into the fiery furnace, yet the Lord said to each of them: “I am with you, I will keep you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land.”
The same promise was heard by the Prophet Daniel while he was in the lions’ den.
God is wonderful in His love, in His protection, and in His divine work. This subject may also be understood in a spiritual way.
When the Apostle Peter denied the Lord, cursed, and swore, he felt that he had gone out from the Lord’s flock, for the Lord had said: “But whoever denies Me before men, him I also will deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Then Peter wept bitterly and heard the Lord’s promise: “I will bring you back to this land.” The Lord truly restored him when He said to him, “Feed My lambs… Feed My sheep.” The same happened to the Prophet David after he committed adultery and murder. He cried out, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,” and the Lord restored him to that land.
Man’s problem is that he imagines he can return to the Lord by himself!
Believe me, if man could return to the Lord by his own efforts alone, no one would ever return. The soul is inclined toward sin, the will is weak, Satan’s wars are powerful, and his hindrances are many.
But whenever a person loses his way in his spiritual journey, he hears the Lord saying again: “I am with you, I will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land.”
This land is the land of the living, as the Psalm says (Ps. 27).
Many have fallen, and it seemed that they had no hope of salvation!
“Lord, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me. Many are they who say of me, ‘There is no help for him in God'” (Ps. 3).
Repentance seemed impossible. Sin had become a habit, then a disposition, and finally a second nature. It had become more closely attached to a person than the blood in his veins.
There was no hope except in the promises of the Lord.
Since it is the Lord Himself who restores the sinner, salvation is possible, because the Lord can do all things and desires all men to be saved.
In many different ways, God brings a person back to Himself.
He restores him through love and tenderness. He restores him through severity and chastisement. He restores him through trials, afflictions, preaching, and spiritual guidance. By whatever means are necessary, He binds Satan so that he cannot harm him. He strengthens the bars of his gates, establishes peace within his borders, and fills him with the finest wheat.
Therefore, contemplate God’s work in your life—His hand, His grace, and His Holy Spirit.
As for your own work, place it only in the second place.
Remember God’s promises to you, and keep them firmly in your memory. Whenever Satan frightens you and says, “You have fallen into my hands,” tell him, “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? I am holding fast to the divine promise.”
Esau and his threats do not terrify me. The fire of the furnace does not frighten me. The lions in the den do not alarm me. The pressure inside the belly of the great fish does not disturb me. Rather, I rejoice in the Lord’s promise—that He is with me and that He will bring me back to that land.
Though rulers conspire together, and the kings of the earth rise up against the Lord and against His Anointed; though mighty waters rage, and my enemies blaze like fire among thorns, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.
If the Red Sea stands before me, the Lord is able to divide it and prepare a path for me through it. If the giant Goliath stands before me, the Lord will deliver him into my hand. The Lord will rescue me like a bird from the snare of the fowlers.
If God is for us, who can be against us? As long as our thoughts remain fixed on the God who is with us, those who rise against us will not trouble us.
The Lord is gracious and good. His power preserves us, and His promises bring comfort.
The whole of the Holy Scriptures would be enough for me if they contained only this comforting promise: “I am with you, I will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land.” As long as You, O Lord, are with me, I will not fear the world or anything in it.
This promise will give me strength, courage, faith, and boundless confidence.
This is the strength of Christianity, which relies on the arm of its Beloved.
God will keep you wherever you go. He will keep you from Satan, from evil people, and from yourself. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but they shall not come near you. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. You shall not fear the arrow that flies by day or in the darkness.
Do not be afraid. God will bring you back to that land. And what is that land?
The Seer says that it is a new earth in which righteousness dwells—a holy land where there is no sin, and which has no need of the sun, because the Lord Himself is its light. Whenever you grow weary of this body of death, the Lord points to that land and says:
“Behold, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land.”
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in El-Keraza Magazine, Year Eight, Issue Twenty-Three, June 10, 1977.
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