Chapter 5 God Commands Joshua
Fear! It is such a fundamental part of who we are; of our whole society. It can cripple us emotionally and it can prevent us from making any headway in life. Fear covers so many bases and in the first chapter of Joshua we are in the company of a man who is experiencing considerable fear – though not once does he verbally express this fact!
Who is Joshua and where do we first hear about him? He is one of the Hebrews who left Egypt with Moses and the people of Israel. Early on in the Exodus we see Joshua as a trusted assistant to Moses. When Moses sent 12 men, Joshua among them, to scout out the land of Canaan, 10 of the twelve came back in a state of fear and apprehension about the prospect of facing the nations that lived in the land. Only Joshua and Caleb had a different perspective and urged Moses and the people to go ahead and invade the land that God had promised. The people were swayed by the 10 fearful men and the result was that this embryonic nation remained in the wilderness for forty years.
Joshua would be about 30 years old by the time he started to serve under Moses. He would have seen the great power of God at the Red Sea and been at the side of Moses when many powerful events took place. He went up the mountain with Moses and was present when Moses came back with the Commandments. However, all of this time, he was a second in command and Moses was the one who took ultimate responsibility. Before the Hebrews entered the Promised Land, Moses was taken from them and Joshua had to step out from behind his shadow and take the mantle of leadership. Here is then another man being given a significant task at an older age. Does God have a preference for OAP’s? Maybe if employment law was to be re-written by the Lord he would tell us that the only retiral age there is, is when we draw our last breath!! Here is how some have described advanced years:
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream” - C. S. Lewis
“In his book “The Meaning of Faith”, Harry Emerson Fosdick gave the account of John Quincy Adams, then 80 years old as he met a friend on a Boston Street. "Good morning," said the friend, "and how is John Quincy Adams today?" "Thank you," the ex-president replied. "John Quincy Adams himself is well, quite well, thank you. But the house in which he lives at present is becoming dilapidated. It is tottering upon its foundation. Time and the seasons have nearly destroyed it. Its roof is pretty well worn out. The walls are much shattered, and it trembles with every wind. The old tenement is becoming almost uninhabitable, and I think John Quincy Adams will have to move out of it soon. But he himself is quite well, quite well." This attitude has been called "body transcendence." It means you do not judge yourself solely on the state of your body. Ageing does not automatically cause one to be less of a person. We can still maintain many of our abilities. As we grow older, we can continue to acquire wisdom, to love more deeply and to continue to contribute to the life of the world about us” - Charles L. Allen
“I feel so sorry for folks who don't like to grow old. I revel in my years. They enrich me. If God should say to me, `I will let you begin over again and you may have your youth back once more,' I should say, `If You do not mind, I prefer to go on growing old.' I would not exchange the peace of mind, the abiding rest of soul, the measure of wisdom I have gained from the sweet and bitter and perplexing experiences of life. These are the best years of my life--the sweetest, and the most free from anxious care. The way grows brighter, the birds sing sweeter, the winds blow softer, the sun shines more radiantly than ever before....My `outward man' is perishing, but my `inward man' is being joyously renewed day by day” -Henry Durbanville
Old age is dreaded by almost everyone because it usually means loneliness, physical decline, and a retreat to inactivity. Some people tend to lose their enthusiasm for life and spend too much time in fruitless reminiscing and self-pity. They feel like “Old Jimmy”, an elderly gentleman George Mueller often told about. When this man was asked what he did all day since he had retired, he replied, “I just sit and think, and sit and think,...and sometimes I just sit!” That’s getting old in the worst way – ceasing to live before we die.
History records that many people made some of their greatest contributions to society after the age of 65. The Earl of Halsburg, for example, was 90 when he began preparing a 20- volume revision of English law. Goethe wrote Faust at 82. Galileo made his greatest discovery when he was 73. At 69, Hudson Taylor was still vigorously working on the mission field, opening up new territories in Indochina. And when Caleb was 85, he took the stronghold of the giants (Josh. 14:10-15).
God never intends for us to retire from spiritual activity. The Bible says we can “still bring forth fruit in old age.” Even as Jesus kept the “best wine” for the last at the wedding in Cana (John 2:10), so He seeks to gather the most luscious clusters of the fruit of the Spirit from the fully ripened harvest of our lives. You may be sure God wouldn’t keep you on this earth if He didn’t have a worthwhile ministry for you to accomplish. So keep on serving the Lord!
But for Joshua there was apprehension. He had to lead a nation and do so from what seemed an impossible situation – before him stood the river Jordan in full spate and beyond that, the walls of Jericho. Could he live up to the charisma and leadership of Moses? Evidently God thought he could and speaks to him:
“After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.” [Joshua 1:1-3]
God clearly lays the task before Joshua and appoints him to put into effect what God wills for His people. How does God speak to Joshua? The Tabernacle was set up wherever the people camped and it was there that people inquired of God. It is probable that after the death of Moses Joshua went there to pray and ask for guidance. From the later response of the people it is evident that they have no problem with Joshua being their leader and are in agreement with what God says. Did God speak in an audible voice, appear in a human form, appear in a vision or a dream? We don’t know – all we do know is that Joshua knew that God had unmistakenly spoken to him. God promises that he will not fail or abandon Joshua.
How then do we know that Joshua was afraid? Let me quote in full another part of Joshua chapter 1 and highlight some pertinent parts of these verses:
“Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous .Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” [Joshua 1:7-9]
It seems to me that God is not the type of person who would waste words and so first of all would he tell Joshua to be strong and courageous and then repeat it so often unless he knew Joshua well enough to know that he felt the exact opposite of what God was asking him to be? He was feeling weak and insecure!!
First of all the Lord tells Joshua to be strong. Now notice the language used and how important it is that we read these words properly. He does not tell Joshua to “feel strong” but to “be strong”. Emotionally Joshua may have felt weak and not up to the task but the Lord is saying to him that he is to be strong on the basis of the promises that he gives. He is “to be” – i.e. he is to “act” upon the command and promise of God. The Lord will be with Joshua every step of the way and promises that he will not fail him:
- He is to be strong in his mind. He is to remind himself of all the things that he has seen happen with Moses and the promise he has been given – “I promise you what I promised Moses.”
- He is to be strong emotionally. He is not to give in to the feeling of inadequacy or fear. He has to carry with him a vision of the greatness of God – a God who is above all and greater than any adversary.
- He is to be courageous even when he does not feel courageous – do you see the distinction? – As someone put it –“Feel the fear, and do it anyway!” That is how it is to be with Joshua. What is fear and what does it do to us? What is courage?
“Fear has created more practicing heretics than bad theology ever has, for it makes us live as though we serve a limited, finite, partially present, semi-competent God” - John Ortberg
“The single command in Scripture that occurs more often than any other – God’s most frequently repeated instruction – is formulated in two word: fear not” - John Ortberg
“The world can do nothing to a Christian who has no fear of man” – Brother Yun
“When I am conscious of the fear of failure holding me back, I go through a kind of personal checklist:
1. Does this fear come basically from pride, a fear that I will not live up to my own expectations or to those of others?
2. Do I remember that God has called me first to faithfulness, then to efficiency?
3. Do I trust that the Holy Spirit is working before me, with me, and through me?
4. Do I remember that I am called to be neither more nor less successful than Jesus Christ was?
5. Do I remember that God does his greatest work when I seem to be weakest? Isn't that, after all, the mystery of the cross?” - Leighton Ford
- “For all the noise fear makes and the room it takes fear does little good. Fear never wrote a symphony or poem, negotiated a peace treaty, or cured a disease. Fear never pulled a family out of poverty or a country out of bigotry. Fear never saved a marriage or a business. Courage did that. Faith did that. People who refused to consult or cower to their timidities did that. But fear itself? Fear herds us into a prison and slams the doors” – Max Lucado
- “His [Christ’s] most common command emerges from the “fear not” genre. The Gospels list some 125 Christ-issued imperatives. Of these, 21 urge us to “not be afraid” or “not fear” or “have courage” or “take heart” or “be of good cheer.” The second most common command, to love God and neighbour, appears only on eight occasions. If quantity is any indicator, Jesus takes our fears seriously. The one statement he made more than any other was this: don’t be afraid” – Max Lucado
I think Max Lucado is spot on in that last quote – Jesus speaks to us more about overcoming fear – and correspondingly, exercising faith – that any other single issue. Why? Because fear lies at the heart of so much that prevents us from progressing. Fear holds us back from advancing the Kingdom of God. It is amazing how often a leadership meeting in the church will spend an inordinate amount of time discussing internal growth and will pay lip service to the need for mission without doing anything serious about it. I remember the first church I attended – a very conservative evangelical church that believed in the Gospel and the need for personal conversion and faith. Four of us, all zealous young men approached the minister to ask if the church might carry out a visitation in the parish. We were excited and the response of the minister and the elders was lukewarm – telling us that we could go ahead and do it ourselves if we wanted to carry the matter forward. All four of us bought Christian tracts and met in the church on a Thursday evening to pray before we went out and knocked on doors – there was no backing or encouragement from the church – indeed many thought that what we were doing was a bit odd! I remember the four of us praying before we left to go round doors and the fear we felt was so evident – we would have been quite happy just to stay there all night and pray!! We faced our fears and there was never an evening when we did not have encouraging conversations with people as we witnessed to them about Christ! God called us to do something and he never let us down.
Fear prevents us from trusting God and taking Him at His Word. For example I know of someone who was so damaged by a lack of love that they found it difficult to accept that they could ever be loved by another person – that person is probably not an exception by any means. The apostle John tells us that “God is Love” – that is quite unambiguous. In John’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that “God loves this world so much that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” – again that is quite unambiguous. Yet people will still ask the question, “Does God really love me?” Why? Mainly because of fear:
- They fear that they are not worthy of love.
- They fear that it is true that God loves other people but somehow he does not love them!
- They fear that their sin is too great to be forgiven, and correspondingly, God’s love is not great enough to forgive.
- They fear the future and they fear death.
Where there is not sufficient trust, fear incapacitates the person to the extent that their growth is stunted and impaired. Is there an antidote to this?
- Go to the Cross often and hear God speak in Jesus to the people who at the extremity of their sin put Jesus there and mocked him mercilessly; “Father forgive them…” came from the lips, life and heart of Jesus. If Jesus is willing to forgive them will he not also forgive us?
- We may feel insignificant and have really low self-esteem and fear that we are unlovable and unimportant. Who did God choose for the mother and father of Jesus? – the humble Mary and Joseph and the humble place of birth. He chose very ordinary men and women to be his disciples – indeed some whose lives were a right mess! Remind yourself of this often.
- Keep reminding yourself again and again that salvation is by grace and the mercy and the love of God.
Joshua was told [and let me emphasise again, to be strong not to feel strong] that all of the resources of God were at his disposal. He was to have an understanding of God that grasped what Moses clearly eventually understood – that his God, and ours, is an awesome God. We are courageous and strong because we trust that God is with us in all things.
Finally Joshua is not just assured by God, but also by the people. At the very end of chapter1 we hear the people say to Joshua – “So be strong and courageous.” God spoke to Joshua through the people. He not only needed divine but also human affirmation. How good it is to encourage one another in our faith. I have seen some terrible churches where a critical spirit has ruled and reigned – they are awful places to encounter because little positive happens. I remember being at my beloved Firhill watching Partick Thistle play football. The team was not playing very well – something that was not unusual. The crowd were beginning to get on the backs of the players and everything that was shouted was negative and judgmental. Then one supporter shouted, in a moment of silent gloom, “Stop criticising the boys. Encourage them! Get behind them!” The atmosphere immediately changed in the crowd and that transmitted itself to the players on the field!
The people were encouragers – like Barnabas in the early church who was renowned for being a man who encouraged – literally “gave courage” – to the church. The following quote sums this up perfectly:
“I have yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism." - Charles M. Schwab
Let me finish with the following story about Mary and a teacher that changed her life. Mary had grown up knowing that she was different from the other kids, and she hated it. She was born with a cleft palate and had to bear the jokes and stares of cruel children who teased her non-stop about her misshaped lip, crooked nose, and garbled speech. With all the teasing, Mary grew up hating the fact that she was "different". She was convinced that no one, outside her family, could ever love her ... until she entered Mrs. Leonard's class.
Mrs. Leonard had a warm smile, a round face, and shiny brown hair. While everyone in her class liked her, Mary came to love Mrs. Leonard. In the 1950's, it was common for teachers to give their children an annual hearing test. However, in Mary's case, in addition to her cleft palate, she was barely able to hear out of one ear. Determined not to let the other children have another "difference" to point out, she would cheat on the test each year. The "whisper test" was given by having a child walk to the classroom door, turn sideways, close one ear with a finger, and then repeat something which the teacher whispered. Mary turned her bad ear towards her teacher and pretended to cover her good ear. She knew that teachers would often say things like, "The sky is blue," or "What colour are your shoes?" But not on that day. Surely, God put seven words in Mrs. Leonard's mouth that changed Mary's life forever. When the "Whisper test" came, Mary heard the words: "I wish you were my little girl." How those words changed the whole direction of that girl’s life. Never underestimate the positive power of genuine encouragement.