Behold, I Am with You, I Will Keep You, and I Will Bring You Back to This Land
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III reflects on God’s promise: “Behold, I am with you, and I will preserve you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land,” explaining that this promise reveals God’s divine work in human life. He emphasizes that a person is often unable to protect himself or return from falling and separation, but God is able to accomplish what a person cannot. He presents examples of Jacob, the people who were taken captive to Babylon, Adam, Jonah, the three young men, Daniel, Peter, and David, to affirm that God’s promises are fulfilled even after long periods of time or after a person’s fall.
Spiritual Message
God declares to the sinful and suffering person that He does not abandon him, but says to him, “Behold, I am with you.” His Holiness emphasizes that God’s punishment is not permanent, and that God works to bring a person back to the land of repentance, purity, and reconciliation with Him. Salvation and repentance do not depend on the person’s ability alone, because the soul inclines toward sin and the will becomes weak, and therefore the person needs God’s work and grace. Even when salvation seems impossible, what is impossible with people is possible with God.
Educational Lesson
The teaching calls us first to focus on the Lord’s work in a person’s life, on God’s hand, the work of the Holy Spirit, the grace of Christ, the prayers of the saints, and the intercessions of the angels, before focusing on the person’s own work. It teaches that God’s promises should remain firmly in a person’s memory, especially when despair attacks him or when he feels that he has gone far away from God. It also explains that God may use love and tenderness, or severity and discipline, or trials and tribulations, or preaching and guidance, in order to bring a person back to Him.
Practical Application
A person should continually hold fast to God’s promises and be strong inwardly, no matter how many tribulations, conspiracies, or spiritual battles surround him. When despair tries to convince him that sin has become a habit that cannot be overcome, he should remember that God is the One who is able to bring him back to the right path. The divine promise gives the heart courage, hope, and peace amid fears, because the Christian’s strength does not depend on his own power, but on God’s presence with him and His preservation of him. The reflection ends with the hope of returning to the “land of the living,” that is, to the holy life God prepares, and to the new earth where there is neither sin nor death, where the Lord Himself is the light.
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