"What are you afraid of?" Devotional for June - Week One

Joshua chapter 1, verses 1-9:

1 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. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. 5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
6 "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers 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 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; 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 terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

Joshua was about the take on a huge feat... leading a large group of people who had proven to be complainers and worst of all, unfaithful followers of the God that freed them from captivity. Easy to see, this was quite the load on someone who only had one other person to see how this was done, and even Moses wasn't perfect.

Can you imagine the pressure Joshua felt? Do you really think he had the people's support and confidence? In today's world, most would pass on the opportunity to lead as was asked of him. Filling in the shoes of a man such as Moses who (with God's help) parted the Red Sea and on top of that, is asked to lead people into their new homeland, would be far too much of a burden for most people.

But this is where we find the point of today's devotional in that most people settle for less in life. Fear and discouragement rule over our lives more than faith and trust in the Lord. With God, we never settle, but are given the best.

Some of the historically best-selling books are the "self-help", motivational kind. Motivational speakers and their seminars are still running strong as well. Why is this? Because most folks choose to trust in themselves, their perceived abilities, all while setting their own goals in life. This is shallow pride in it's truest form. What we should do however, is to listen to God and His lofty-plan-in-the-sky that He has for each and every one of us.

What God may ask of us can be daunting. Impossible, or at the very least improbable. You may say to yourself, "I can't do it." But instead of keeping our ears open to the teasing whispers and voices of doubt (which may or may not include ourself), trust in the triumphant voice of the Almighty who says, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

What Jesus says in Mark 10:27 sums it up...

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."

On our own, we can only accomplish things within our realm of attainability, but with God we can do the great things He has for us beyond our line of sight.

Proverbs 3:5 also speaks to this:

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding."

Amen!

great devotion this week!

I love what I do in my job, but, lately I have let the pressures become a burden. Trying to handle everything on my own. Yesterday, taking a break, I picked up a devotional that I have, saying prayer that the Lord would speak to me. I just opened the book, the specific devotional that opened was "Leave it to God". I asked the Lord to take the worries from me, I cannot do it myself. This morning I read your devotional and I know that through my devotion yesterday and yours this morning the Lord is showing me that He is in charge and right here with me. Thank you.

Glad to know it could help! There will be one going up very soon for this week as well.