Question for you. What frightens you? Think about that for a minute. What are you most afraid of? What scares you to death? What frightens you so much that it paralyzes you? Take a look at Joshua 1:9…

Joshua 1:9…

Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Questions need context and you know I love to look at context especially with biblical passages. So let’s take a journey through the book of Joshua chapter by chapter with that question in our minds.

The Context For The Question…

In chapter 1, God commissions and calls Joshua to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land. This is a calling not a job.

In chapter 2, Joshua sends spies into the Promised Land to spy on Jericho. Jericho was the first city they would wage war against and a prostitute named Rahab helps them. It’s an interesting story of God using someone with a less than desirable story to further his purposes.

In chapter 3, Joshua leads Israel across the Jordan river on dry ground which is a throwback to God redeeming Israel from slavery in Egypt much the same way decades earlier. And Joshua uses this experience as an opportunity to remind Israel that God is with them and that he will defeat their enemies.

In chapter 4, Joshua sets up a pile of twelve stones to remind the people of God’s mighty power. We all need reminders that point us back to God’s faithfulness.

In chapter 5, Joshua circumcises the new generation of Israel and they eat the fruit of the Promised Land for the first time. Joshua also encounters an angel who is the commander of the Lord’s army. Can you imagine the best meal you’ve ever had and then meeting the commander of the Lord’s army? That’s a big day to remember!

In chapter 6, Joshua leads Israel in it’s first battle in the Promised Land, they defeat Jericho in a miraculous way and God proves once again that he is with them wherever they go.

In chapter 7, there’s a downturn in the story as some people from the congregation of Israel begin to live in secret sin and because of their sin God allows them to be defeated by their enemies from Ai. In this chapter we see Joshua in absolute agony and depression over the sin of the people, the consequences  the entire nation experiences and the responsibility to lead a congregation wide discipline process that is so brutal it might have left him with nightmares for years to come.

In chapter 8, there’s a upturn in the storyline as Joshua leads the people in war against the nation of Ai (who previously defeated them) and he also leads the people of Israel to renew their covenant relationship with the Lord because of his faithfulness.

In chapter 9, Israel’s neighbors, the Gibeonites use deception to make a peace treaty with Israel because they are afraid after hearing stories of the nations that are falling under Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land.

In chapter 10, enemies of Israel attack the Gibeonites so Joshua leads Israel to defend them and defeat their enemies. And while he is leading them in war against their enemies he actually calls the sun to stand still which causes everyone to marvel at the Lord’s powerful presence with Joshua. Again, this is a story of God’s powerful presence with his people to defeat their enemies.

In chapter 11, a horde of kings from the northern part of the land wage war against Israel and the Lord helps them defeat them.

In chapter 12, we see a list of all the enemy kings that God gave into the hands of Israel in defeat.

In chapter 13, Joshua is old and tired but God comes to him, recognizes his years of faithfulness and his weariness and he tells him that his conquest is not yet over but that he (God) will drive out the rest of Israel’s enemies as Joshua distributes the inheritance of land by lot and tribe.

Chapters 14 – 21, are an ongoing list of distribution and in chapter 21:43 – 45, Israel rests in their possession of their inheritance and they remember that God is faithful, powerful and present as he promised to be. Here we get the picture that the physical inheritance of property pointed to the spiritual inheritance of God’s redeeming presence.

In chapter 22, the Eastern tribes set up an alter to remind everyone that they serve the Lord just the same as the western tribes do. This episode nearly starts a war between the eastern and western divisions of Israel but God in his kindness protects the unity among them.

In chapter 23, Joshua challenges Israel to never rebel against God but to instead continue loving God with their entire beings by obediently trusting him as they remember his faithful, powerful and provisional presence with them through thick and thin.

In chapter 24, Joshua reminds Israel once again of its long history of obedience and rebellion. He also reminds them that they are now living in cities that they didn’t build and they are eating fruit from vineyards that they didn’t plant. And he challenges to choose this day whom they will serve as he sets up a rock as a witness against them.

This last chapter, along with every chapter before it, is a continual reminder to Israel and to us, to not be afraid and to not be dismayed but to be strong and courageous in our obedience because God is with us.

Back To The Question…

What frightens you? Think about that for a minute. What are you most afraid of? What scares you to death? What frightens you so much that it paralyzes you?

I am deathly afraid of snakes. There’s a story about a time when one of my daughters saw a snake in the window sill of our old home and she yelled “snake” which prompted me to take off running for the backdoor. Once I was safe outside our home and my heart stopped beating a million miles per minute I realized that I had run right by another one of my daughters and I had given a her line backer shove out of the way into a wall. She literally went right through the wall between the studs. My kids still love to tell that story.

As funny as that story is there are plenty of other things to be afraid of. Fear of failure. Fear of looking stupid. Fear of being rejected. Fear of being betrayed. Fear of losing a friend. Fear of being alone. What frightens you? What frightens you so much that it paralyzes you?

Think about what was going through Joshua’s mind in this passage…

I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be Joshua and to hear the words of this passage spoken to me. God is literally commanding Joshua to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land. There were giants in the land. Entire cities needed to be conquered in that land. There would be catastrophic violence, rebellion, opposition and a whole host of other hurdles factoring into leading the people of Israel into that land.

There were tons of reasons for Joshua to be afraid and to be dismayed. What if I make the wrong decision? What if they don’t listen to me? What if the enemy is too powerful for me to overcome? What if my plans fail epically? What if I wind up looking stupid? What if I’m the only one left when this is all over?

Think about the “what if I” question…

I am convinced that the underlying question underneath all of our “what if I” questions is not really “what if I” but instead it’s “what if God”. “What if I” is only a distraction from the real question that Satan has been depositing into my heart from the get go. Satan isn’t concerned with getting me to question myself. His chief aim is getting me to question God without knowing that I’m doing it so that he can silently feed my fear until it’s such a big monster that I am completely overcome by it.

What if God isn’t big enough? What if God doesn’t really come through? What if God hasn’t been truthful with me? What if God isn’t really faithful? What if God doesn’t really love me? What if God hasn’t really chosen me? What if God leaves me all alone?

What is your deepest fear?

My deepest fear is the fear of being alone. The first time I remember feeling alone was when my dad left our home when I was five years old. From that point forward there were what appears to be strategic experiences that were meant by our old enemy the Devil to cultivate this fear of being alone and not only cultivate this fear but confirm that my greatest fear is actually true. You are alone. This is the lie that Satan has embedded deep within my bones from my earliest memories. What is the biggest lie that has been deposited into your heart by our enemy?

Satan whispered lies into my heart and my soul. And those lies were like tiny little arrows that became so deeply imbedded in my being that I couldn’t distinguish them from reality. When my mom bounced from one dude to the next it confirmed my fear that I wasn’t good enough therefore I was all alone. So I found momentary relief in pornography addiction. Where do you seek momentary relief from your greatest fear?

When my marriage began to fall apart it confirmed my fear that I was all alone. So I found momentary relief in the arms of another woman. Where do you seek momentary relief from your greatest fear?

When I didn’t make enough money to cover the budget it confirmed my fear that I was all alone. So I found momentary relief in overworking myself. Where do you seek momentary relief from your greatest fear?

When the pain of betrayal and rejection from close friends confirmed my fear that I really am all alone I found momentary relief through drug and alcohol addiction and isolation. Where do you seek momentary relief from your greatest fear?

How do you face your fears?

How do you face your deepest fears? How do you muster up the courage to obey God against all odds? How do you no longer hide out in fear and paralysis like you’ve been hit by a truck? How do you overcome your fear in the following instances?

Facing your sin head on; discipling your spouse; loving your enemy; working fewer hours; confronting sin in a friend; sharing the gospel with an unbeliever; teaching your kids the ways of the Lord. How do you be strong and courageous in these instances?

The answer is found in believing and trusting in the promises of God. The picture of faith throughout the scriptures is a picture of believing and trusting. Faith, is not merely believing, that God can wheel you across Niagara Falls in a wheel barrel on a tight rope. Faith, is trusting God to do what he promises to do by getting into that wheel barrel and letting him wheel you across whatever fear-filled tight rope you have.

The explicit promise of this passage to Joshua and to us is that he will never leave you and he will never forsake you and he will be with you wherever you go. Joshua was able to trust (not merely believe) in this promise and that’s what enabled his obedience. The foundational root of all disobedience is deception. The foundational root of all joy-filled obedience is truth. Deception locks us into a prison of doubt and despair. The truth is what sets us free to live in freedom. What lies have you trusted and believed? What truths do you need to trust and believe?

Think about your confession of sin and faith…

Confession of sin is admitting the lies we’ve believed and acted upon sinfully and then confessing the truth of God’s promises and then acting in faith upon those promises. This is the faith in action that James tells us about. It’s the faith in action we see in the disciples as they planted the early church. The early disciples believed and trusted that Jesus was Immanuel (God with them in the flesh). They believed and trusted Jesus when he told them to go and make disciples while trusting that he was with them till the end of the age.

Self-help and self-effort aren’t the same as faith-in-action…

Pulling up my bootstraps won’t produce authentic lasting obedience. That will only produce broken bootstraps at best and broken legs at worst. The only way to obey this command to be strong and courageous in the face of my worse fear, is to believe and to trust and to live in the promise that God is always with me.

Let the promise of the gospel refresh your courage today…

God is near to the downcast. He is a friend of sinners. He is the healer of the sick. He opens the eyes of the blind. He invites himself into the homes of wicked people. He steps into the broken places and the broken spaces and the broken hallways of my sin-filled heart.

Jesus died so that I might have life and he left the tomb empty so that I might live victoriously. He gave me his Spirit so that I might be enabled to live courageously. And he promises that he will return to take me to the promise land one day where there will be no more pain and no more suffering and no more sin and no more tears.

In Conclusion…

Over and over again God proves that he is not only big enough, faithful enough, loving enough, merciful enough and gracious enough but he is present enough. He’s present enough. He will never leave you and he will never forsake you and he will be with you wherever he calls you to go. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be dismayed. Our God is with us.