Joshua 1

“Only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:7-8*

It is especially difficult when a really good leader must be replaced. Take Moses, for instance. Joshua was not the central figure in Moses and Aaron’s day. He was a man always just out of focus in the background of the photos of Moses and Aaron. Would the people trust and follow Joshua? The greater question is: Will Joshua trust and follow the Lord? In a results-oriented world, it is good to know that we serve a process-oriented God. God is highly concerned with our obedience. He (and He alone) provides the fruit of our labor. And that is freeing, isn’t it? We really need only to seek Him through His Word and pray and act according to it, knowing that is all He requires of us. It is definitely a point that King David wanted us to remember:

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly; nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in His Law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2

Following God’s Word is a struggle at war with our human nature: The flesh (the corruptible sin-self) struggles against the Holy Spirit within us. Therefore, true faith is not simple or purely intellectual but demands strength and courage from us.

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” Romans 7:18-23

Yet, in the midst of our struggle (to know and obey God’s Word), we have hope and assurance from His Word that God’s victory is not only assured but that the Holy Spirit, which works within the believer, will accomplish what He has called us to do! But we must respond in accordance with the Holy Spirit.

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are in the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” 1 John 4:4-6

*all verses are NKJV