Strength and Courage

So this past week our church helped launch a brand new satellite campus in a town about 30 miles away.  This was an amazing event with individuals attending from places all over Colorado, as well as Texas and New Mexico.  It was contagiously exciting to be part of something that God was doing to expand His Kingdom...to see His arms reaching out in love to a new community and to new people!  Now I've been preaching through the Book of Joshua for almost two years at our Monte Vista campus and so it's kind of strange because this new campus is simply going to jump into this study in Chapter 11.  But I thought it would be a good idea to backtrack and give them one week of "set-up"...one week to catch up to where we are in the study by looking back at Chapter One.  They need to know what's been going on up to this point and what the repeated themes of Joshua have been.

My idea was simply to go back to the first sermon that I preached on Joshua; the text that I began with so many months ago was Joshua 1:1-9.  This passage described when God spoke to His newly installed leader and let him know that Joshua would do fine IF he continued to depend on God, living in obedience to God's word and acting with "strength and courage".  In fact, the term "strength and courage" is repeated three times in those nine verses.  "Strength and courage"...what an interesting command to repeat.

What's interesting to me is that on Sunday morning, after preaching about "strength and courage" on Saturday night, I will be preaching from Joshua 11:1-5.  In Joshua 11, new enemies are preparing to attack Joshua and the people of Israel utilizing "horses and chariots".  These weapons, in that time and in that culture, were the epitome of advanced weaponry...they were the laser guided rockets and stealth fighters of that day.  You didn't go up against horses and chariots and expect to win.  The message of "strength and courage" would again be the focus as Joshua and the people prepared for this type of enemy.

You know, today everything seems to be in chaos.  Whether we're looking at the economy around us, food and gas prices, the moral condition of the nation, the job situation...everything seems to be in flux, constantly changing, unstable and at times very scary.  The truth is that today finding stability in any realm can feel somewhat impossible; but God doesn't want His people to rest in fatalistic ambiguity.  We can still act with "strength and courage" as we prepare for the future and any difficulties to come.  Isaiah 41:10 says, "So do not fear for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."  The simple application is this:  God will always walk alongside of His people as His people strive to live lives that honor Him and bring Him glory.  Just as in Joshua 1, through Joshua 11, into the time of Isaiah and forward into today, God understands our uncertainty and fear but more than anything He wants us to comprehend that He will always be the strength of His people and the One who can remove all fear.  My encouragement to you is this:  as you approach tomorrow, and live through today, know that God walks with you.  As you face the uncertain, know that He is definite and purposeful, loving and certain. Cling to Him, let go of the fear; obey Him, trust that He is with you, and hold onto His hand.  Beloved, live your lives with "strength and courage"...let God handle everything else.