J1-6: The Two Things Joshua Was Commanded To Be Strong And Very Bold About

^“No one will be able to withstand you as long as you live. Just as I was with Moshe, so I will be with you. I will neither fail you nor abandon you. “Be strong, be bold; for you will cause this people to inherit the land I swore to their fathers I would give them. Only be strong and very bold in taking care to follow all the Torah which Moshe my servant ordered you to follow; do not turn from it either to the right or to the left; then you will succeed wherever you go.“-Joshua 1:5

God makes an interesting promise to Joshua in verse 5.

He tells him that no matter what happens he will remain the ruler over Israel all the days of his life.

Why do I say this “promise” is interesting?

Because contained in this promise is a prophetic element which implies that without a doubt…

…in the future people and circumstances will arise against Joshua that will hinder his God-given mission.

And isn’t that what happened with Moses?

The people plotted against Moses.

The elders questioned his authority at times.

There were many foreign enemies Moses had to battle on the journey towards the Promised Land.

Heck, even his own family spoke out against him.

Yet no matter how many people rebelled against Moses, God remained faithful and did not allow him to be dethroned.

The Lord is promising the same thing to Joshua.

He’s telling him…

…no matter what happens, you will not be removed and you will not be defeated by any man.

And God is telling YOU the very same thing my friend.

When we get to very end of the Book of Joshua, we’ll indeed see the evidence of the Lord’s faithfulness. 

He stayed in power to the very end of his life.

Next, Joshua was also commanded to be strong and bold about the following two things: 

The Land…

…and…

the Law.

Again, inherent in this command is the fact that the land was to be taken by force.

That’s right.

The Israelites were going to have to wage a Holy War led by God Himself against the wicked inhabitants of the Land of Canaan.

This wasn’t gonna be a walk in the park folks.

Joshua was going to have days when he wished he hadn’t gotten up in the morning.

And many of his Israelite brothers were going to be either seriously injured or even killed in the battle to take the Promised Land.

Yet, in spite of all this, Joshua was told to not forget the Lord’s promises and remain bold and strong in moving forward step-by-step towards the mission the Lord had laid out for him and the people of Israel.

And this really is the biggest takeaway folks.

A lot of folks decide to commit their life to the Lord thinking that when they do so all of their problems will just magically disappear.

Actually, the opposite is true.

The Lord is going to force you to face your problems and NOT mask or run away from them.

We are to use a combination of our own best efforts PLUS the Lord’s guidance in order to conquer our own individual “promised lands” so to speak.