Joshua 1:9 (NASB20) "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified nor dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
As Joshua takes command over Israel, and is preparing to enter the promised land with them, God speaks to him and gives him, not an assurance, but a command not to be afraid. In 1:6 and 1:7 God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous, and here in 1:9 He tells him again to be strong and courageous.
God is telling Joshua to trust Him. It’s as if being afraid would actually be disobeying God. For Joshua, and Israel with him, it seems like fear would have been a sin.
Have you ever been in a situation where you were afraid but you had someone telling you to keep going, to not look down, to trust them. I get the sense that God is doing that here with Joshua.
What more inspiration and encouragement to bravery do we need than to have God telling us that He has our back; in fact, that He is going on in front of us!
Joshua 8:1 (NASB20) Now the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you. Arise, go up to Ai; see, I have handed over to you the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.
On a map Ai appears to have been very near to the location of Jerusalem. It was the second city that Israel would conquer after entering the promised land and destroying Jericho.
In Joshua 7 we are told that one of the Israelites took some of the items from Jericho that were supposed to be completely destroyed, and then God gave Ai victory over Israel in their first battle because of that disobedience. Then God directed Joshua to root out and destroy that person — Achor — and his family. After Israel was “cleansed” of that unfaithful person God told Joshua not to be afraid, but that He would now give Israel victory over Ai.
Joshua 10:8 (NASB20) And the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear them, for I have handed them over to you; not one of them will stand against you."
In this passage 5 kings of the Amorites have banded together to fight Israel because they heard that Jericho and Ai were completely destroyed, and that Gibeon — a great city — had made peace with Israel.
The kings did not fight Israel directly, but instead they attacked Gibeon. When Gibeon called to Israel for help God told Joshua not to fear because “I have handed them over to you.” So Israel marched all night and when they came upon the armies of the 5 kings the lord brought those armies into confusion, and it says that He (capital H, meaning God) “struck them down in a great defeat at Gibeon”.
This happens in our lives. When we are doing well we will have those who want to be on our good side — just like Gibeon wanted to make peace with Israel — but we will also face greater opposition from those who oppose us — just like Israel now had to fight five armies at once instead of just one.
But God is with us. No matter how many enemies we face, God can hand them over to us. We just have to remember that He does it for His glory, not ours, and we have to give the glory of every victory to Him.
Joshua 10:25 (NASB20) Joshua then said to them, "Do not fear or be dismayed! Be strong and courageous, for the LORD will do this to all your enemies with whom you fight."
After the initial victory over those 5 kings their armies fled and Israel pursued them and cut them down as they scattered. The kings themselves hid (or were placed) in a cave at Makkedah. Once Israel returned from pursuing all the enemies that were running away Joshua ordered for the kings to be brought out of the cave, then told the leaders of Israel to put their foot on the necks of the kings.
Then Joshua told Israel not to be afraid because God was going to do this to all the enemies they would fight. Then Joshua put the five kings to death.
God was telling Joshua not to fear, and Joshua was passing that message on to Israel, not simply by saying in some abstract way that God would give them victory, but by demonstrating it. Nothing says victory like having your foot on the neck of not one but five kings!
Joshua 11:6 (NASB20) Yet the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow at this time I am going to turn all of them over to Israel as good as dead; you shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire."
At this point Israel had been having victory after victory on their conquest to take over the promised land. They were moving north and the kings in the northern territory decided to band together to fight them. The Bible lists 4 kings and 9 territories — kings from north, south, east, and west. It says their armies came out together — as many people as the sand on the seashore.
This was probably the biggest battle that Israel would have to fight, and what did God say? Don’t be afraid, by this time tomorrow I will hand them all over to you as good as dead. In a single day God would give Israel victory over an army that numbered as many as the grains of sand on the seashore.
When we trust God there is no force that can come against us that is too strong for Him. It didn’t take Him days, or weeks, or months, or years to deliver this massive army over to Israel. They were defeated in a day. Not that the entire army suddenly perished, but their will to win disappeared, and it became a matter of Israel pursuing them and finishing them off.
Victory is not a matter of the physical act. It is a matter of the heart. The physical act is the result of what is in the heart. Israel was not afraid because they knew God was with them. The armies they faced were afraid because, even though they had greater numbers, they had no hope of ever winning against Israel.
Don’t let the world cause you to fear, or be anxious. Trust in God, and know that He gives us the victory. We have the victory even before the work is done because we have God in our hearts, and He is taking care of us. Do not be afraid!
με αγαπη,
BJ