God's Message To Joshua Series

So, these people might have wrestled with the same thought. As bad as the desert is, at least they were all alive and provided for.

And not only the Jews but even Joshua would have a lot of challenges on the other side of the river. He’d face defeat at Ai and then have to lead the people in stoning Achan to death and then they would engage in unconventional warfare at places like Jericho where they walked around the city for seven days. He needed strength and courage because he and the nation were about to face things they never had to face before.

So, if Joshua was to be “strong, and courageous” he had to stay on the right the path, he couldn’t turn, he couldn’t compromise, he couldn’t become distracted and he couldn’t disobey the will of God.

I heard a story about a violent thunderstorm and a mother was tucking her little boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he said, “Mommy, will you sleep in my bed tonight?” His mother smiled and gave him a hug and said, “I can’t dear, I have to sleep with your daddy.” And then the little boy said, “The big sissy.”

Probably the thing that cripples most people is fear. Some fear the past and others the future. Most people fear change, confrontation, poverty, aging and dying but when David listed some of the characteristics of those who feared the Lord in Psalm 112:7, he said, "He will not fear evil tidings: his heart is steadfast trusting in the Lord." And when we have what the scripture calls the fear of the Lord, we won’t fear anything else.

Paul said that he had learned contentment in any state he was in and that’s admirable but there’s also a destructive kind of contentment where people can become satisfied with mediocrity, content with failure and even content with a form of sin. And here I think the Israelites had become content to take the easy path.

Adrian Rogers tells about the man who bragged that he had cut off the tail of a man-eating lion with his pocket knife. When he was asked why he hadn’t cut off the lion’s head, the man replied: “Someone had already done that.”

Listen, God knows about every problem we face and every fear we have and either He is on the throne and working all things together for good as the scripture says or life is hopeless and meaningless. There’s no such thing as a halfway point. That’s a lesson these people had to learn and it’s also a lesson for us.

III And here’s the condition for God’s blessing. It’s found in verses 7 and 8. "Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."

There is a common desire within every person to feel successful. We often measure our worth on the basis of how successful we are. And how we measure success is often based on a worldly standard rather than a godly one. Success by the world’s standard often means luxury, wealth, possessions, achievements, notoriety, fame, beauty, brains and strength. God’s standard of measurement is nothing like the world’s standard. There are tons of books at bookstores on How to Succeed in Life. And they can all be summed up by saying, “We become what we think about. We have to decide exactly what we want. We have to determine the price we have to pay. And then we commit to paying the price. And we work hard every day and never give up.” And do you know what the interesting part about these books is, you’ll find most of them on the clearance table.