Happy New Year! As a church, we are reading through the Scriptures together using a 3-year bible reading plan developed by British pastor Tim Chester. In a future post, I will provide a link to the reading plan for anyone who doesn’t yet have access to it and who wants to join us in reading the bible together. For the first week of January, we were to read Joshua 1-9. I would like to help us on this journey by occasionally posting some of my thoughts from the reading. Today, I’ll share from my reading of the first chapter of Joshua.
Three things stood out to me in this passage. First, there is God’s command to Joshua and the people to “prepare to take the land I’m giving you” (see 1:2, 7). God’s promise to give Israel the promised land was not a ticket to passivity. They were to prepare themselves for the battle ahead. As Christians, we have been saved for a purpose, and are called to work, strive, and act in the power of the Holy Spirit toward that purpose.
Second, Joshua was admonished to constantly meditate on and obey God’s Word (1:8). Meditation and memorization move the word from our heads to our hearts. Living wisely (according to God’s path) is what yields true prosperity and success.
Finally, there is a repeated command for Joshua to “be strong and courageous” (see 1:6, 7, 9, and 18). Strength and courage are not self-manufactured but naturally flow from God promise to be with us (see 1:5, 9, and 17). We need to know and trust God, realize his presence in and with us, and then live boldly.
