Live Strong

“Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses My servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good 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 good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."—Joshua 1:7-9

Live strong. In our passage for today, we have the Israelite leader and Moses’ apprentice, Joshua, ready to enter into the Promised Land after Moses’ death. The Israelites had been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years because they failed to listen to God and enter the land in faith when the opportunity last presented itself. At the end of the 40 years, the unbelieving generation had died off and a new generation had taken their place—those who had grown up in the wilderness were primed and ready to enter into the land and conquer it on behalf of the Lord.

As they were prepping themselves to go in, God commissioned Joshua to lead the people. Joshua was the Jewish leader, but he came on the heels of one of the greatest leaders in Israelite history, the great Moses. Moses had led the Israelites out of slavery from one of the greatest world powers of the time—Egypt. Moses had announced the ten plagues that had come upon Egypt. He had led the Israelites through the Red Sea on dry ground, struck the rock so that they had water, and told them about the manna and quail that God would supply. And yet, because Moses had failed to uphold God as holy in the sight of the people, he was not allowed to enter into the Promised Land—even the great Moses was under God’s judgment (Numbers 20:11-13). How much more for Joshua? Assuming the mantle of Moses’ leadership was a sobering and fearsome responsibility. How could he lead the Israelites? After all, Moses had been God’s mouthpiece, pronouncing God’s judgments, giving God’s decrees, and was the direct recipient of God’s law upon the mountain. And if Moses couldn’t enter into the Promised Land, how could Joshua?

God commands and commissions him with the charge to go into the land and take it, only “be strong and courageous” (v. 6, 7, 9). The strength and courage that he needed were not to be born of human will that came from his own ability to muster up courage, as if he were the Little Engine that Could, saying to himself, “I think I can, I think I can…” It was an entirely different strength and courage that came directly from his ability to trust and adhere to the Book of the Law, which was made up of the first five books of Moses. It was his adherence to God’s law that gave him strength and courage. If he were to read, meditate on, and study God’s words in order to apply them to his life, then he would “have good success” (v. 7, 8) and “make his way prosperous” (v. 8). The success and prosperity that Joshua would experience was not based upon his own strength or courage, but came directly from God Himself because it was God who had commanded him (v.9) and it was God who promised to be with him (v. 9).

As believers in Christ, we have so much more than Joshua did. Joshua only had the first five books of Moses that were to point to Christ, but we have Christ Himself. We have been promised success if we adhere to God’s Word—not that it means conquering the Promised Land as Joshua did, but we have the promise of God’s peace and presence when we adhere to His Word. Living according to the Word of God is not easy; it takes great courage and great faith. Living according to the truths found in the Word of God means to live strong—where we derive from God Himself our strength and courage for the struggles and trials we face. We do not follow clever philosophies of men found on daytime talk shows or from the self-help section at Barnes and Noble, but from God Himself—our Creator, Sustainer, and the Great Lover of our souls.

May we be like Joshua, taking care to read, meditate on, and study God’s Word, seeking to apply it to our everyday lives so that we might live in the strength and courage that God provides, because we know that when we do, we are guaranteed success and prosperity in the form of a peace that comes from a life that is entirely devoted to honoring Him. Amen.