Be Strong!
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
If we stay on context, I am sure Joshua was terrified here. He had been a servant to Moses for quite some time, and had seen the capacity for rebellion and disobedience by the children of Israel. Of course, at a time, he was directly involved, where he and Caleb were the only ones who stood by God's promises, sure of the ability and capacity of God to do all He had promised to do. But leading these people was a different proposition altogether. Who could lead all these people, with their different priorities and leanings? Who could feed and take care of them in the desert without divine help? This is why the verse above is quite critical to own situation today. There are a lot of uncertainties in our world today. Nothing is ever the way it should be, and men keep finding new ways to perpetuate and promote evil. However, today's focus would have me fix my gaze on that which goes on inside of me, not what is raging outside of me. That is the summary of the message in the verse above.
First sort out the inner content and the outer situations will sort themselves out. If I let the fear of the outer take hold of my heart, it will displace the confidence and trust I should have in my heart about the ability of God to keep me safe from all the storms that may rage on the outside. If there is no inner presence, where is the hope of victory? If there is no inner confidence, how can I look forward to the mighty things that God can do? If God goes with me, it does not really matter how many turn back from going with me. If God is for me, it will not matter what the quality or quantity of the opposition against me is. Before I dare face the world and all its machinations, I had better be sure that God is in and with me. May I not be like Samson who toyed with the presence of God and paid a steep price for it. Moses said it quite clearly when he told God that if God would not go with them, there was no point in taking any further steps. That has to be my default position at all times. God's time of favour is here.
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