Day 38: God goes with you
Joshua 1:9
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua hears this message from God when he’s in a place of newness, sadness and uncertainty. We’ve probably all had moments like that this past year.
Moses, his leader and mentor has just died and now Joshua is taking on the mantle of leading the people into promise. He knew this was going to be no small thing! He’d grown up watching this bunch of people make life for their leader hard, he’d seen them moan, he’d been part of the wandering and experienced struggle and hardship. He knew there were battles to come! He didn’t know it would include giant walls, gushing rivers in flood and hail stones the size of footballs – but he knew this next part wasn’t going to be a stroll in the park.
And God knew too!
Isn’t it amazing and comforting to know that God knows what trials are ahead – and how to overcome! Lets take Jericho for example, when God saw Jericho in Joshua’s future he didn’t just see the 5ft9 wide and 11.8 feet high walls! And the huge obstacle they would be, he saw it as an opportunity for them to learn the power of obedience as they followed his seemingly obscure instructions and to learn the awesome power of praise! He didn’t just see the walls – he saw the rubble and the victory that it would ultimately become! and he saw the growth this would lead to in Joshua.
It’s with that confidence and assurance that God could say to Joshua “be brave, don’t panic or fear because I’ll be by your side” He’s basically saying “keep your cool Josh, don’t panic when you see whats coming because what you think will overtake you and defeat you will actually grow you into the leader you have no idea that you have the potential to become!”
This past year has been hard! For almost everyone! Parents, we’ve had to homeschool which is hard, single people, loneliness has felt so heavy and overpowering, which is hard! Older people you’ve had to spend far too long without your loved ones indoors which is hard, young people you’ve missed school, exams, friends and so many things and it’s hard!!
But this promise is as true today as it was all those years ago. He is with you! And because if that we can face tomorrow no matter how unknown it is. We can trust that whatever Jerichos we face we can do so with confidence that he is with us and have courage to face it.
Prayer
God we thank you that you know our tomorrow. Nothing takes you by surprise. Father we pray for a confidence that comes from not knowing we have it altogether and hold every answer ourselves but a confidence that you do! God give us courage when we feel overwhelmed and give us super natural strength when we feel weak.
Amen
Gale Dowding
Senior Pastor