After the death of Moses God spoke to his assistant Joshua placing the responsibility of leading the Israelites on him. The time had come for them to claim and conquer the land God had promised, which they had failed to do approximately 40 years earlier. It must have brought awe and fear to Joshua, however God promised him the land and His presence but Joshua would have to put his foot on the land, Joshua 1:3, 5. God tells Joshua to “Be strong and of good courage three times in verses 6, 7, 9, and the 21/2 tribes already settled east of the Jordan reiterate this to him in verse 18. While he had God’s promise, his natural eyes would still see the difficulties and dangers of conquering these sinful ungodly nations, but God gives him the key to victory in verse 8 which is to observe the word of the Lord (law) without wavering or compromise speaking it continuously, let it “not depart from your mouth”; speak the word, not the danger, the circumstances, or the fears, keep the word before you continuously! A New Testament sequel is found in 1 John 2:13-14 “…I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one” cf. Ephesians 6:10. Couple this with Revelation 12:11 where overcoming is accomplished by appropriating the blood of Jesus and the confession of faith which stands on the word of God as we see in Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing and hearing, by the word of God.”
God speaks
By Rose Hill
To a man named Joshua the Lord spoke one day,
It’s time to arise and do what I say.
Go over this Jordan and take your people along,
It’s time to be courageous and very strong.
All the places that your feet will tread upon,
From the river Euphrates to the setting of the sun.
Will be yours for to you this land I am giving,
Wherever you go, you’ll have prosperous living.
I command you this day not to be afraid,
All the land of the Hittites you will invade.
So Joshua arose and obeyed God’s command,
And the Lord gave him all the land.
Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version copyright …1982 by Thomas Nelson Co. used by permission.