God’s In Control, So Be Strong and Courageous

Passage: Joshua 1:7-9

What book in the Bible is your Cadet theme verse from?

Who is Joshua?  Tell me what you know about him.

Do you know how old he was when God said these words to him?  He was 80 years old.  How many of you think that’s really old?

Do you know where he was born?  He was born in Egypt, he was born a slave in a foreign country.  For the first forty years of his life he had to do hard work making bricks out of mud and clay for the Egyptians to build their buildings.  He didn’t get to go to school or play sports.

But when Joshua was 40 years old God sent Moses to deliver His people out of slavery.  Joshua followed Moses into the wilderness, into the desert to escape Egypt and the Egyptians.  Do you know how long Joshua was in the desert?  40 more years wandering and living in the desert.

For the first 80 years of his life, Joshua knew only suffering, pain, hardship, difficulty.  Think of the very worst day of your life, and then think about that lasting not just for a day or a month or a year, but eighty years.  If you think these past two years with Covid and facemasks and all that stuff have been bad, think of it lasting for 80 years.

And then just when the Israelites finally got to the edge of the Promised Land God promised to give them, Moses died.  Moses was the greatest leader ever and now he was dead and God put Joshua in charge of leading Israel and the armies of Israel.  Those were huge shoes to fill.

The job God gave Joshua was to lead these millions of people into the Promised Land which we call Israel.  But there was a big problem.  Who lives in the Promised Land?  All kinds of evil people, six nations, six armies and the Israelites were going to have to fight all of them to take over the land God promised them.

Do you think Joshua was a little nervous, maybe even afraid?  How many of you would have been afraid?

So what does God tell him?  Be strong and courageous.  Well that’s easy to say, but hard to do.  So what else does God tell him?  I will be with you, just like I was with Moses.

Have you ever been in some dark or scary place where you were afraid?  Does it help you if someone else is with you?  Then it isn’t so scary is it.

Joshua spent the next twenty years leading the armies of Israel in fighting against all the enemies of God.  Until he is 100 years old.  How many of you think 100 is old?

The Bible says God is always with you and will never leave you or forsake you.  Do you believe that?  Do you believe you have the supernatural power and presence of God with you always?

The reason we can be strong and courageous is because God has already promised He will be with us wherever we go, He will never leave us or forsake us.

God doesn’t tell Joshua to grit his teeth, to grin and bear it, to screw up his will power or his courage on his own.  God says be strong because I am with you and if I am with you then you don’t have anything to worry about.  God is in control.

But that was Joshua, he was a great leader, God called him.  What about us, what about ordinary people like you and me?  Is what God says to Joshua also true for you and me?