“Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do... This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:5-7, 9NLT)
"Behold the turtle; he makes progress only when he sticks his neck out."
These saying by James Bryant Conant, the chemist and former president of Harvard University comes to mind while contemplating our text today. As God continues his commissioning of Joshua for the assignment ahead, in one breath, he spoke twice about the need for Joshua to be bold and courageous. His words reveal the fact that he knew that somewhere along the way, there will be situations and circumstances, seemingly impossible obstacles and intimidating enemies that Joshua would encounter as he went about fulfilling his mission from God. God knew that because of his backing, Joshua could not fail or be defeated if he could only be courageous enough to confront those obstacles but he was also aware that the only thing that could stop Joshua was if he allowed fear to demobilize him from acting boldly in the face of the opposition.
So God had to drum it in into him, repeating it three times. " Joshua, don't be afraid. Don't be intimidated by anything. Be bold. Be Strong. Confront every challenge. Yes, you will be afraid, you will see things that will intimidate you, but rush at them. Stick your neck out and take those seeming risks. You will only make progress as you stick your neck out boldly in this assignment. I am with you"
What a message for you today who may be intimidated by something in the path of your assignment in God. Maybe it is a human who towers like an intimidating giant in the land you are to possess. Maybe it is a task that looks impossibly daunting. Maybe it is an uncertain future, a past failure, a seemingly risky step of obedience to God in life. God is saying the same to you. Be strong and very courageous.
Stick your neck out. True Courage is not the absence of fear but its mastery as Mark Twain said eloquently. Courage is doing things afraid. It is stepping out in faith while your knees are knocking together in fear. It is refusing to bow when your whole being quivers at the thought of burning in a fiery furnace. It is praying when you know fearfully doing so may turn you into a lion's dinner. The courageous are not people without fear but people who refuse to let fear cripple them. They refuse to crawl into a shell of comfort but rather stick their necks out beyond the comfort zone in order to truly live.
If you are struggling with immobilizing fear today, receive courage from these words. God never suggested courage to Joshua, rather he commanded it. It is said that there are over 365 commands in the bible to be bold and not be afraid. That's an average of one for each day of the year. When you are faced with fear, remember that to act in the face of the fear is obeying God. The one who commanded you and whom you chose to obey will not let you fail or falter. He will be there.
Decision of the Day
I choose to be bold and courageous. I will act in spite of my fears. I trust God who commanded me to be bold and courageous. He will not fail me.
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