When God commissions Joshua to lead the Israelites after Moses has died, He commands Joshua three times to be strong and courageous. This command was not just for Joshua, but is a command for us Christians today as well. For too long, we Christians have been silent as our politicians, neighbors, families have walked away from striving for a godly lifestyle to embracing a lifestyle of depravity. And shame on us for silently standing in the shadows and allowing it to happen. We need to listen to God’s commission to Joshua and likewise be strong and courageous. Then we need to spread this message to all who will listen, so they too will know the Living God and His plan for their lives.
Each time God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous, He tells Joshua how He will help him or what to do to have success in conquering the people of the Promised Land. It seems Joshua might have been legitimately afraid as he is asked to step into the huge shoes of Moses and conquer peoples that were strong and lived in fortified cities. Even though we aren’t physically battling for land, we are battling for the rights of our children to grow up and live a life of holiness without being bullied. Our children are feeling all too keenly the opposition to what we are teaching them: to love God first, to live a holy life, and to live by God’s purpose for their lives, not by their own desires. We need to let God lead us as we strongly and courageously fight for the souls of our children.
God tells Joshua: No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them (Joshua 1:5 & 6, NASB).
We can take God’s promise to Joshua as a promise to us as well. When we do God’s will, He will not fail us of forsake us. In fact, He will equip us to complete His will for our lives. We all have times in our lives when the future looks daunting. Or maybe you have a person in your life who is difficult, but God has put on your heart that He wants you to minister to this person. How are you supposed to minister to a person, let’s be honest, you really don’t like? We need to first go back to what God is telling Joshua here: God will not fail us or forsake us. We need to remember who is standing up right beside us: the Almighty God of the Universe.
The second time God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous, He also tells him to follow His law.
Only be strong and very courageous, be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you: do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it: for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have success. (Joshua 1:7 & 8, NASB).
What an incredible promise! Moses handed down the tablets with the Ten Commandments along with the books He had written. These were the laws of the land for the Israelites as they entered the Promise Land. They taught about how God loved them and chose them. They taught how to treat one another kindly and how to forgive. They taught about hygiene and daily living. They set up a system of government that treated all the twelve tribes of Jacob equally, from the smallest tribe to the largest. Most importantly, they taught the people that their God was a living God who would fight for them, protect them and bless them. All Joshua needed to do was meditate on God’s Words day and night. If he did that, then he would be successful and prosperous.
Here’s the question, did God’s command to be strong and courageous only apply to Joshua and the Israelites of ancient days? Absolutely not! What’s more, we have been blessed by having the complete text of God’s Living Word, both in the form of the Bible, and by the completion of prophesy of Jesus the Messiah. We have also been given the Holy Spirit to help us interpret God’s Word for our own lives and daily situations. During Old Testament times, only certain people were filled with the Holy Spirit, such as kings, prophets and judges. But they were only filled for a time. When Jesus died and returned to Heaven, we were given the Holy Spirit as our Helper, us – ordinary people.
So what keeps us from meditating on God’s Word day and night? Most often, it is busyness. We allow too many things crowd out our time to sit and spend time in God’s Word. We fill up our time playing games on our phones, strolling through Facebook and binge watching TV shows. And why are we doing these things instead of meditating on God’s Word? Quite honestly, I don’t know. Maybe we are too tired after work. We are stressed. We just want time to ourselves after we have put the kids down for the night. Indeed, we need to remember God’s Words to be strong and courageous and go against our culture of busyness and make time reading God’s Word a daily priority in our lives. This means, putting the phone down, turning off the TV, spending less time at work and spending more time with God.
Are we working too much? Our society tells us to push harder and do more. But God says, Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him (Psalm 62:5, NIV). This can cause fear, since we have been brainwashed since birth to work harder, smarter and more in order to be successful. But God says, spend time in His Word, put Him first and live a life by God’s standards, then you will have success and prosper. Take Jesus as an example. Look at all He accomplished in three short years of ministry. And talk about a legacy! His work still carries on after more than 2,000 years after He walked the earth.
Now is the perfect time to be strong and courageous and put spending time with God first. Many of us have spent the last two years working from home and our idea of the workplace has changed dramatically. We don’t work the same way at home as we have in the workplace. We have found flexibility in our daily routines. Now is the time to carve out time for God in your schedule.
The third time God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous, He reiterates that Joshua does not have to lead alone, but that God is always with him.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go (Joshua 1: 9, NASB).
What comfort. God knows that there will be times in our lives that make us afraid and we tremble and become discouraged. So God reminded Joshua, and reminds us, He is with us, no matter where we are. There is no place on this earth where we are without God. I think we can add, there is no place where we are emotionally as well, that God is not with us. When we doubt ourselves, God is with us. When we are in the dark hole of anxiety, God is with us. When we procrastinate being obedient to Him, God is with us. When we try to run ahead of Him, God is with us. When we try to run away from Him, God is with us.
So why are we so silly that we try to live life without God? When we do this, we are not spending time in His Word, and we have forgotten God’s promises to us. We have taken God’s successes in our lives and claimed them as our own. The next thing we know, we are falling back to the “if I work more, I will be more successful” way of life. This is why we need to daily meditate on God’s Word. We need to live in the Truth and strongly and courageously give God all the glory of His blessings in our lives. We must not rely on our own memories about God’s Word, but rely on God’s Living Word speaking to us daily through the help of the Holy Spirit.
This is the main thing. The Bible is not like any other book. It is a living book. It speaks to us, convicts us, comforts us and encourages us just when we need it most. God uses His Word to speak to us and transform us into people of His kingdom. He is our ultimate teacher who shows us how to successfully navigate through this life so that His Son’s sacrifice on the cross can cover us with righteousness and we will spend eternity with our Creator. This is the ultimate success of being strong and courageous.
Be strong and courageous and daily walk with God.
Photo Credit: October 10, 2014. Faithgateway.com. Retrieved on May,3 2022
from https://www.faithgateway.com/help-children-brave/#.YnFcjdrMJD8
