“…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
Moses was an exceptional man through whom God
accomplished extraordinary things through this man He brought plagues to
Egypt. By means of this man He freed His
people from captivity. As a result of
this man’s obedience God miraculously delivered when His people stood between a
sea and a pursuing army.
In the first chapter of Joshua we see a
declaration given to a subordinate of Moses, Joshua, pronouncing, “Moses my
servant is dead.” Moses was a great man
but Moses was dead and Joshua was at the helm.
Wow! Can you imagine, to be the
successor to one of the greatest men in the history of the nation? Talk about intimidating! Nevertheless, Joshua was the God-ordained successor
to Moses as Israel’s leader. Moreover, God
had issued a challenging directive, “Now then, you and all these people, get
ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them.” You see, despite the extraordinary life of
Moses, God was not done. God’s objectives
had yet to be accomplished.
The question that lay before Joshua was this…
would he decide to grab hold of the reigns or would he shrink back and retreat? It would have been justified if Joshua,
feeling overwhelmed, was lax in his resolve.
In spite of all the pressure, Joshua stood for He had heard, in the
midst of the call, the reassuring word of his God, “Be strong and courageous.
Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with
you wherever you go.”
Take note my friends, Joshua did not despair at
the death of Moses. Instead, he followed God as His story continued. He
understood that though a man’s days may be numbered, God’s plan endured. Joshua recognized that the success of Moses
came not from Moses himself but only came as he abided with God and God stood
with him.
As we read the story of Joshua and so many
others in Scripture, we see many who were called to walk mightily with God and
accomplished mighty things in His name. We stand in awe of these men and women… but
here is the big truth, you and I are called to walk mightily with God and can accomplish
mighty things in His name. Just as God
promised his abiding presence to Joshua, He promises each of those who call on
Jesus as Savior and Lord the same kind of assurance of His presence. Just as He called Joshua to greatness, He
calls each of us to greatness. Each
Christ-follower is commissioned to go and to daily invade the territory of
enemy… standing tall, for each and every day, right up to the end of time, the
follower of Christ will have God’s abiding presence (Matthew 28:18-20).