God is With You
Joshua 1:5 No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
The more difficult things get in life, the more lonely you feel. It just seems to be one of those truisms.
When you’re under pressure, when you have difficult decisions to make, when everyone’s looking to you to do the right thing … it’s real pressure.
Now we’re not all born to be leaders, that’s fine. But there are times when the pressure of a situation, particularly those really difficult situations, makes you feel as though you’re completely alone on the earth.
Have you ever felt like there’s just no one – not a single person in the whole universe, capable of being there with you? Oh people may be there in physical proximity. They may even be there in emotional proximity. But they can’t help you out of your fix. Perhaps there’s fear, even pain, and yet, they can’t give you courage. They can’t overcome your problems. They can’t achieve the breakthrough you so desperately need.
It’ a lonely place, and it’s in that very place that Joshua found himself, way back there in the Old Testament. Israel had just spent forty years in the wilderness, and they were finally, about to cross over the Jordan River into the Promised Land.
But … there was a problem. Their tried and trusted leader, Moses, had just died. And all they were left with was his second in command, Joshua.
Okay, they knew Joshua, but it wasn’t the same thing. They trusted Moses, because he’d proven himself time and time again in life and death situations.
And now, they had to cross over into the Promised Land which was occupied by many other tribes and nations. It was going to mean battle after battle to take hold of God’s promise.
Can you imagine the pressure on Joshua? The fear, the second guessing of his own abilities, not to mention the weight of expectation and need of a whole nation on his shoulders.
But in the face of that, this is what God said to him:
No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. (Joshua 1:5)
In that same chapter, we see God three times, telling Joshua to be courageous – now that’s a worry. When God tells you to be courageous, you know you’re in for some tough times ahead.
But the issue is that neither Joshua, nor you or I, can conjure up courage out of nowhere. We need some basis for that courage. We need to have some rational reason to be courageous.
I will not fail you or forsake you.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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