Be Strong and Courageous

Be strong and courageous.  The phrase, “Be strong and courageous” is a repeated phrase in our reading today.  Moses has passed away and now Joshua is going to lead the people into the Promised Land.  It was occupied land, but God would be with Israel as they enter the land to fight for them.  One might conclude then that the message to “Be strong and courageous” was because they would be in some physical wars and battles and they would need to be courageous to continue fighting.  You can imagine going into a military battle when you are outnumbered, that must be intimidating.  They would have to have courage and trust that the Lord was going to fight for them.  However, something in the reading this morning really stood out to me.  It reads, “Above all, be strong and very courageous to observe carefully the whole instruction my servant Moses commanded you” (Joshua 1:7).  It would seem that the most important application of “Be strong and VERY courageous” was to carefully observe the instructions God had given through Moses, the law of God.  He goes on to emphasize that this book of instruction (law) must not depart from their mouth and that they are to meditate on it day and night so that they may carefully observe everything written in it (v.8).  We must keep the Word of God constantly in our mouth.  God’s Word should be so precious that we constantly are meditating upon it (day and night).  And, we must learn to be doers of the word, not just hearers.  Be strong and very courageous!