I have two email accounts. I get a daily verse in each. One such verse last week was out of Joshua 1, “Be strong and courageous.”
After reading my daily verse, I decided to go back and read the full chapter. Joshua is commanded four times in that chapter to “be strong and courageous.”
God commands him three times in verses 6-9, and the people command him in the closing verse 18. Each time there is a slightly different emphasis. He will need to be strong and courageous because he must distribute the land, he must observe the whole instruction of Moses, and he must lead even when there is opposition in his own people.
It was the command to “be strong and courageous” in verse 9, however, that engaged my thinking this morning. “Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged [dismayed], for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” [HCSB]
Joshua needed strength and courage to battle both fear and discouragement. We often understand the need to have strength and courage when fear arises, but God also reminds Joshua that he will need strength and courage when faced with discouragement.
That OT word translated dismayed or discouraged means “to be shattered.” There are so many things in this life, so many things that spring up suddenly that can dismay or discourage us. I battle two chronic diseases. Sometimes they are under control and they influence my daily life only a little bit, and sometimes they exert themselves in greater measure and they influence my daily life a lot.
It is easy to allow discouragement to come in. It is then I need to remember God’s command to Joshua to “be strong and courageous,” and “to not be afraid or discouraged [dismayed],” AND to also remember the source of my strength and courage, “for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
