Original: August 29, 2007
McMinnville, OR
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… 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 1:6-7, 9
6Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." 7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their forefathers to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance…The LORD gave this command to Joshua son of Nun: "Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you." Deuteronomy 31: 6, 7, 23
We have a tradition at summer camp of running a tab for our counselors at the coffee shop. For the past four years we have blessed our counselors by letting them order “free” drinks at the summer camp coffee shop and at the end of the week I pay off the tab; no problem; that is until this year. This year I knew we had a problem when we arrived on Sunday and were told to wait until Monday to talk to the manager. On Monday afternoon around 2:30 I was greeted at the coffee shop not by the manager but a rude young lady in her late teens who curtly told me that, “We don’t do tabs anymore!”
Ironically I never heard from, spoke to, or met the invisible “supervisor.” Were they the same person?
When I questioned her further she shot back, “We don’t do that and if you have a problem with it you can talk to my supervisor.”
“Well that is who I thought I would be meeting with!” I wondered.
Apparently a “no tabs” mandate had been handed down and all the youth pastors until now had complied. All, that is, until us. How could I call myself an Oregonian and accept this anti-java mandate?
Never!
It would have been easy to be weak, passive, and compliant but I choose the high road, stirred it up and by Wednesday we were allowed to run a tab for our counselors. Even though it ticked people off it was well worth it.
Six times in two chapters, Joshua is commanded to “be strong and courageous.” We do not know much about Joshua except he was one of only two of the original spies that came back from the Promised Land with a favorable report (Numbers 13:26-33). We also know that Joshua was Moses’ personal assistant (Exodus 24:13, 33:11) as well as being the “son of Nun.” Watching the hardness of the heart of the Hebrew people and God’s rejection of Moses, his mentor, entering the Promised Land must have been tough for Joshua to watch. As assistant to Moses, sitting chair made it easy to follow, easy to fight and easy to call forward into to the Promised Land.
But now he was the leader.
Now he was the one calling the shots. He needed the strength and courage.
As I studied these 6 verses it became evident that strength is a decisive choice towards action. To “BE strong” is a choice to act, move, and “BE” something. I have never met a man, contrast to a boy, who is content to “BE” nothing. God had intrinsically wired men for significance, to “BE” something to someone.
Some say weakness is the opposite of strength but I disagree.
I believe the opposite of strength is passivity.
Adam was weak not because he wasn’t strong but because he chose to be passive. Paul was strong because in his weakness he did something (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). To reject passivity is to choose to act and “be strong.” Weakness is not the antithesis of strength but the refusal to act-passivity. Real men don’t let life happen; they trust God and make life happen. Strength takes the high road. Strength says, “The easiest path is to BE passive, but I will choose the strong path of choice. My choice is action.”
The easiest road for Joshua would have been to remain on the east side of the Jordan staring into the Promise Land wondering, like so many, about what could have been. Instead he chose to cross the river of passivity into the promises of God.
Will you?
