“There shall not any man be able to stand against you all the days of your life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with you: I will not fail you, nor forsake you.”
Our text is the Lord’s encouragement to Joshua when he was about to assume the leadership of the Israelites. The promise was ‘as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.” It was a great compliment to Joshua to be used in the same sentence with Moses. Moses was a great man of God, and Joshua would take up his mantle. This meant that God had great confidence in Joshua and knew that he could lead the people in an effective way. The important thing to see in all of this was that neither man could have done the job by himself. Both Moses and Joshua needed the presence of God to do what they were called to do. It is the same with us if we want to effectively serve the Lord. Joshua 1:5 points out why we need God with us. If God is with us we can meet any challenge that we encounter in our lives. The promise in the text was, “There shall not any man be able to stand before you all the days of your life.” If you know anything about the trek that Israel had taken to this point between Egypt and the Promised Land, you know that Joshua would face as many challenges as Moses had to face. There were obstacles in the way at all times. For example they had to constantly find sources of water for all of the Israelites. There was also the challenge of the whining and complaining of the people. Joshua had gone through all of this at Moses’ side, and he knew that the job he was undertaking would not be easy, and that he would definitely need the presence of God at all times. He knew that the one challenge that he would have that Moses did not have, was the challenge of taking over Canaan. It is doubtful that we will have to face similar challenges, but we will certainly meet all kinds of challenges in carrying out God’s will in our lives. We will have to contend with a society that is hostile to our faith, we will have to contend with fellowship problems with our fellow Christians. We can take comfort in the fact, however, that God will be with us through it all. I know that the presence of the Lord Jesus through the Holy Spirit has been a constant source of comfort to me in my years of service in His work. If God is with us we can be assured that the Lord will renew our strength as we serve Him. The promise to Joshua was that no one would be able to stand against him “all the days of your life.” The promise of God’s presence is not something that comes and goes. It is a promise that we can count on all of the days of our lives as well. One of Jesus’ last promises to His disciples, and to us, was “I will be with you always even unto the end of the ages.” (Matthew 28:20) The great apostle Paul petitioned Jesus about his “thorn in the flesh.” Here was the Lord’s answer: “And He said unto me. ‘My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” Then Paul added: “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” Like Moses and Joshua before him, Paul drew his strength from the Lord who was present with him every day of his life. We have a promise that Joshua did not have, and that is that Jesus promised that believers would receive the Holy Spirit to be with them at all times. We do not preach, teach, sing, usher, serve as deacons, or any other service that we might do without the presence of the Holy Spirit who will live within our lives, empower us for witness, guide us in all of our undertakings and encourage us when we are discouraged. We need God’s presence and we have His promise that we will have His presence. We need to praise Him for His presence in our lives. Do it! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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