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I think Joshua felt like he was
standing on the edge of a precipice when we meet him in Joshua 1. Moses, his friend, his mentor, his boss, had
just died and God asked him to take over leading the people of Israel. He’d been with Moses for 40 years. He’d seen the miracles God has performed
through Moses. He’d been up on the
mountain with Moses. He’d been Moses’
aide and he’d seen so much, but now it’s his turn. Now the responsibility to lead this people,
this nation of over a million, into battle, into the land God has promised them
is his.
What was he thinking as he faced a
future without his mentor Moses? What
was he thinking as he faced leading a group of people who had been less than
cooperative and obedient? What was he
thinking and feeling as he stood facing his step forward into the unknown? Someday we will be able to ask him those
questions, but for now we can only speculate. For now, we can only imagine what he was thinking and feeling based on
what we think and how we feel when we are faced with stepping out into the
unknown.
Joshua didn’t know what the future
looked like. He knew where God was
taking them, but he didn’t know just what the process for getting there would
look like. Often we don’t either. God gives us a burden, a vision for a work He
wants to accomplish through us, but He doesn’t give us all the details.
As we stand at this place waiting to
step off into the unknown, we often experience fear, nervousness, doubt, and
discouragement. God gave Joshua the
prescription to counteract those feelings. God said, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not
be terrified: do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you
wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9 NIV).
Be strong . . . not do strong or do
strong things or act strong, but . . . BE strong. BE courageous. God doesn’t give us a list of dos and don’ts
here, rather He tells us what to be, and what not to be. “Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged,
. . .” Then He tells us why we can be these things, “. . . for the LORD your
God will be with you wherever you go.”
Oswald Chambers wrote, “We are uncertain of the next step, but we are
certain of God.”
It is God who gives us the grace and
the strength and the courage to step off into the unknown or to face the
unknown when it is thrust upon us. We
can be strong and be courageous when we are certain of God, when we are
dwelling in Him, remaining in Him.
Brother Lawrence, a monk who lived a
few hundred years ago, made it his mission in life to practice the presence of
God. (There’s a book about him called Practicing
the Presence of God if you want to know more.) He chose to spend every day as if God were
walking through it with him, to focus his thoughts on God all day long, to pray
continually. By practicing God’s
presence he made his dwelling place in God.
“He who dwells in the shelter of the
Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and
my fortress, my God, in whom I trust’” (Psalm 91:1-2). We are not strong and courageous because we
never face difficulty (we wouldn’t need to be strong or courageous then), but
we can be strong and courageous IN difficulty because of our God who never
leaves us or forsakes us.
May
you find strength and courage in the great I AM because He is strong and
courageous. May you be able to face each
circumstance with strength and courage because I AM will never leave you or
forsake you.
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