“YOU HAVE NOT PASSED THIS WAY BEFORE”
II. Courage For the Journey
1-13-08
Ken Peterson
Joshua 1:1-11 & 16-18
TEXT: “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.” (Josh 1:9)
AFTER MOSES... JOSHUA
Our Scripture begins with, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord... the Lord spoke to Joshua, calling him to what had to be an intimidating new place of service to the Lord. The death of people we love, the loss of people we are close to, the vacuum left by the absence of those we’ve depended upon for guidance and leadership thrust us into major transitions in our lives. Sometimes it is sudden and unexpected. At other times you see it coming and think you’ve prepared yourself. But when it happens, you still reel at the impact, the loss, and feel overwhelmed at continuing on without that person with you. Often it rocks us to the core of our beings. We suddenly realize how much our security, our sense of well-bing, and even our joy was tied into that person. It can feel like a crucial piece of our foundation has been removed, and a whole part of us and our lives are sagging, threatened with collapse at the prospect of carrying on without that underpinning.
After the death of Jesus, you sense the confusion and aimlessness of the disciples. They don’t have a clue about what to do. It was in the year one of the great leaders of Israel died, King Uzziah, that Isaiah heard his call from God.
While death is the most obvious, permanent, and complete of these losses, we meet it in many other forms. I remember when I left for college I felt a huge loss of my mother’s daily access and presence. I was 600 mi. away in a strange, intimidating city on a college campus where I knew no one. It is then I realized how much my spiritual and emotional well-being was attached to my mother, and that much of my spirituality was borrowed from her. I could count on her getting wisdom and guidance from the Lord. That was much easier to me than trying to figure it out on my own. I suddenly felt very alone, vulnerable, and frightened. That counsel and emotional support was no longer very accessible.
I hope this morning you are calling to mind other “afters,” as well, besides death. There are other losses after which things can never be the same– cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, divorce, the accident, the fire, the person who swindled you out of your retirement savings, the loss of a job, etc. Sometimes it is even the loss of a friendship through misunderstanding and hurt feelings. Things can just never be the same again. It precipitates a whole new life for us– major transition. In that, we often hear or discover a new call from God. In that is also a call for major growth for us and a greater trust in God than we’ve ever had to have.
I expect that is where Joshua is this morning. Moses has led the nation of Israel for the last 40 years. He led them out of bondage, an instrument of God’s spectacular, miraculous deliverance. He met with God up on Mt Sinai to get the Ten Commandments and detailed instructions about building a place of worship and numerable other laws. Exodus 34:33-35 tells us that when Moses went in to speak with the Lord in the tabernacle, his face would be radiant when he came out– so much so, that he had to put a veil over his face. He was the mediator between Israel and God in an unprecedented way. He was their direct line. He spoke to God personally and then relayed the message to them. As you will recall, the children of Israel were not easy to lead. They were a quarrelsome, complaining bunch. When things went wrong they blamed Moses and at times threatened an insurrection. But Moses held things together, at times needing God’s supernatural help to do so. And, a whole generation knew of no other leader. Those are pretty big shoes to fill!
Now, at the next crucial step– the conquest of the promised land– Moses turns over the leadership to Joshua and then dies. The task is daunting, in fact impossible by human reckoning. He was to lead the people (likely numbering over a million) across what seemed like an uncrossable river and conquer a land inhabited by seven nationalities, mostly living in walled cities. And we know that Joshua is quaking in his boots, because four times in this chapter we have the command to him, “be strong and courageous” (vs. 6, 7, 9, and 18). God never speaks what is not needed, giving just general information as we often do. He speaks directly to the need, knowing the heart. So, “be strong and courageous” repeated four times assures us that Joshua feel weak and frightened.
This chapter has long been a favorite of mine because I am a rather timid person and feel inadequate most of the time. It is good to know Joshua was there too. The commands God gives to Joshua that enable him to lead Israel in conquering the impossible are also enabling for us. In these commands God gives us exactly what we all need for the journey when we feel a little overwhelmed and tempted to retreat from the challenges before us. Let’s reflect on the words of our text:
“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.” (Josh 1:9)
BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS
First, we recognize God’s command, His call to Joshua. Joshua has been chosen for this. Nothing else really matters. As Paul will say later, If God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom. 8:31). If God calls us and we are doing what He wants in His way, there is really nothing else that matters. And, often it is in times of loss or when we are facing a formidable obstacle that we discern a fresh call from God in our lives.
The name Joshua means “the Lord saves.” It is the Old Testament version of the name Jesus. And there is a sense in which Joshua leading the armies of Israel becomes a type of Christ for us as we follow Jesus in conquest.
Note as well this is commanded. Be strong and courageous. There is a decision here on Joshua’s part. God never commands what we cannot do. It is not about feelings, but about a choice. God is telling Joshua what he can be if he so chooses. And, Joshua makes that choice– a choice to believe God’s Word and act upon it no matter how weak and frightened he is.
Then, we have three separate commands:
Knowing we need God’s strength is crucial to doing any significant work for the Lord. F. B. Meyer notes,
“Most of us are too strong for Him to use; we are too full of our own schemes and plans, and ways of doing things.”
As 1 Cor 1:27-29 and 31 says:
God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him... Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Our courage in the face of fear is to come from the Lord as well. Again, remember God is commanding us to reject fear and trust Him for the courage we need. I’m convinced that fear is one of Satan’s favorite tools to keep us from following where God wants to lead us. Most of the times I fail God, if I look to the root of that failure, I find some form of fear: a fear of what people might think; fear that God will let me down; a fear of not being in control; and on and on. Often times our sin is rooted in fear as well so we compromise our values to fit-in or fear we will miss some happiness if we don’t do this or that. C. S. Lewis said,
“...where courage is not, no other virtue can survive except by accident. Cowardice drove me into hypocrisy and hypocrisy into blasphemy.”
Anytime you step-out for God, you can be sure fear is going to be there. The enemy will see to it, and he is a great bluffer. As I’ve mentioned before, someone has counted 366 “fear not” statements in the Bible– one for each day, even leap year. It’s as if God knows how much we need to hear that. We need to affirm that in the face of fear. I use Psalm 27:1 a lot:
The Lord is my light and my salvation–
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life–
of whom shall I be afraid?
You see, courage is not the absence of fear, but rather knowing that God is greater and more important than your fears. So it is that Dr. Ogilvie observes, “Courage is fear that has been on its knees in prayer”– bowing before the greatness and power of God.
The third command is, “do not be discouraged” or “dismayed” as some translations have. I think I prefer “dismayed” since it seems to fit more with feeling totally overwhelmed by what we’re facing. But our dismay comes from human reckoning. From our human viewpoint, getting a million people across the mighty Jordan river at flood stage is dismaying. Certainly Jericho, surrounded by huge, thick walls brings dismay to the heart. Israel has no trained army, no horses and chariots as the great armies of the day had. But none of that is important because of God’s promise, the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. That is all that really matters.
A couple of years ago, Rosa Parks died at the age of 92. She was considered “the mother of the civil rights movement” for her courageous action almost 50 years previously of refusing to relinquish her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white man. She writes:
“When I sat down on the bus that day, I had no idea history was being made– I was only thinking of getting home. But I had made up my mind. After so many years of being a victim of the mistreatment my people suffered, not giving up my seat– and whatever I had to face afterwards– was not important. I did not feel any fear sitting there. I felt the Lord would give me the strength to endure whatever I had to face. It was time for someone to stand up– or in my case, sit down. So I refused to move.
“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was 42. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
From that came the famous Montgomery bus boycott and the civil rights movement.
Let’s look now at the reason God commands us to not be afraid, to be strong, and not dismayed. It is simply, “I will be with you.”
GOD WITH US
Twice we are given the reason we can be strong, courageous and not discouraged. These are God’s words to Joshua,
vs. 5, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Vs. 9, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
God is all-powerful, all-knowing, the creator of all that exists. What are rivers, walls, and armies to Him? Israel had already been given abundant evidence of what that meant: the plagues on Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, led by the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, daily provision of food in the manna, water from a rock, and the rout of armies coming against them to mention a few examples.
As long as God is with us, there is no reason to give into our fears. Maybe we can think of it like this. Between Bill Gates and me, we are worth about 60 billion dollars. Now, that is a true statement. If I had Bill Gates “with me,” fully committed to me, promising to provide whatever financial resources I might need, I would be silly to worry about having enough money to engage in a project he wanted me to engage in for him. It matters not that 99.99% of the resources are his– I am covered.
How much more we all have in God. He has proved His love for us in giving us His only Son for our salvation. And,
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Col 1:15-17)
Do you remember how Matthew ends his Gospel. It is with Jesus’ promise, And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matt 28:20). What else can we possibly need?
The great pioneer missionary and explorer of the interior of Africa, Dr. David Livingston carried out his mission at great personal cost to his family and his own health. He once returned to his native Scotland to receive an honorary degree from Glasgow University. As he stood before a large audience, he was obviously not in good health. His body had been ravaged by some 27 fevers and his left arm hung useless at his side, the result of being mangled by a lion. He told them of the hardships he endured, the long treks, ulcerated feet, and repeated bouts of malaria. He said to them, “Do you know how I was able to go on when humanly it seemed impossible? I was sustained by the words of an Honorable Gentleman who said, ‘Lo, I am with you always, even to the end.’ And he was with me.”
But this promise of God’s presence is not just ethereal, a vague hope we hang onto. It is anchored in God’s Word. Verses 7-8 put it all in perspective:
Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (Josh 1:7-8)
For God to be with us, we need to be with God. We need to obey His Word. And that comes from talking about it (Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth) and from meditating on it. Meditation is letting it soak in, working creatively within our hearts changing our attitudes, values, and enabling us to think and feel with God. This is more than a casual acquaintance with the Bible. It is serious, devoted study that is continuous. Prosperity and success are promised– but remember it is God’s terms of success. It may not look like the world’s success.
And it is through generous time in God’s Word, soaking in it, that the Spirit of God has opportunity to enter into us more deeply and His presence becomes more real. Jesus said,
If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. (John 15:7)
It sounds like two sides of a coin: abiding in Him and His words abiding in us. When we need to know God’s presence with us, we should be turning to God’s Word.
CONCLUSION
Our natural tendency is usually to seek safety and security, doing what is comfortable and easy. But that is not the journey God has us on. His calling is always forward and upward– conquering new territory. But we will often feel inadequate, weak, fearful, and discouraged. But remember, that is par for the course. It is not time to pull back to a safe position, but to call upon God– spend time with Him in prayer and the Word. Seek a fresh infusion of God’s Spirit.
“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.” (Josh 1:9)