STRENGTH AND HONOR — Joshua 1:9
Joshua 1:9
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
AUTHOR:
Unknown, though certain sections may derive from Joshua himself.
It seems safe to conclude that the book draws on early sources. It may date from the beginning of the monarchy. Some think that Samuel may have had a hand in shaping or compiling the materials of the book, but in fact we are unsure of who the final author or editor was.
AUDIENCE:
The Israelites, God’s chosen people.
APPROACH:
Joshua 1:9
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Welcome back Familia! I hope that everyone is doing well physically, emotionally, and especially spiritually. Today’s VOTD is one that I’m looking forward to because I have some cool pointers to bring out and the book of Joshua is always a good one to read out of because of Joshua’s story and what he went through. Let’s get to unpacking!
The first pointer that I want to bring out, and it’s a strong one to take note of is this:
Whenever you’re reading God’s Word, always be mindful to look into punctuation.
Whenever you’re reading God’s Word, always be mindful to look into punctuation.
When I read Joshua 1:9, I noticed that at the end of the passage of scripture, there was some quotation marks. WTF?! Remember the ‘F’ stands for Frank, lol.
But I wondered if there is some quotation marks at the end, then where are the beginning quotation marks? Well this will force us to go searching (unpacking) to find them and sure enough, they were found in verse 7.
Joshua 1:7
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.
So remember to pay close attention to punctuation. It’s kind of a road sign directing us to do something with it. So now that we have been directed to search and start unpacking, let’s get to that!
Just to give you a quick recap of what’s taking place and what’s about to happen here in the book of Joshua. Take a look below:
- Moses just died and Joshua took over
- Crossing of the Jordan River is coming up soon for the Israelites
- Rahab, the prostitute, and her family are offered salvation
- The fall of Jericho is happening soon
So let’s get back to the unpacking! Let me bring the VOTD to the front again.
Joshua 1:9
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
We can easily read this and get all the feel goods about this scripture, but now I really want to bring out my second strong pointer. When we were directed to go to verse 7 to find the missing quotation marks, did you notice that the same phrase line was used there? “Be strong and very courageous.”
Here is my second strong pointer. Anytime in the bible (God’s Word) that you see something said twice, you must take GREAT note of that. It is of great significance and it’s almost like we have to really put it in and store it in our hearts. And therefore let me show you again the two places of where God used a phrase twice. Let’s look at Joshua 1:6 and again Joshua 1:7 as well. Watch this!
Joshua 1:6
6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
Joshua 1:7
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.
So there you have it, God is talking to Joshua and He specifically tells him twice to, “Be strong and courageous.” He is literally wanting to emphasize this to His servant Joshua. We do this as earthly parents too. If one of our children or fur-babies isn’t listening to our question, statement, or commands, we say it again and again and again. Now we keep doing it multiple times but I believe that after two times, we finally get tested with our patience. I really believe God is the same way with us.
And so to recap our VOTD again, you can see how God is literally once more trying to emphasize this strong point to His servant Joshua. Let’s look at it again.
Joshua 1:9
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
God reminds Joshua in the beginning of that verse, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Isn’t amazing how long suffering and patient God is with us? I like what my Study Bible said on this. Have I not commanded you? A rhetorical question that emphasizes the authority of the speaker.
So there you have it. My second strong pointer in this VOTD. And again that is to take note of anytime something is mentioned twice, it is something of GREAT significance. Do not take it lightly and also, act upon it. Whatever it may be.
The next thing that I want to bring out in this VOTD is this little nugget that was waiting for us at the end of chapter one of Joshua. After God speaks to Joshua and instructs him on what he needs to do, Joshua turns around and speaks to the people and gives them their orders. He then gives specific orders to these tribes:
- The Reubenites
- The Gadites
- Half-tribe of Manasseh
Not going to go through all the details of what he said to them (if you like, you can read them in Joshua 1:12–15) but want to bring out what their response was back to Joshua. Watch this!
Joshua 1:16–18
16 Then they answered Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.
17 Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses.
18 Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!”
Did you guys catch that?! These tribes are answering to Joshua in obedience and reverence for what position he now holds but more importantly, they LITERALLY, LIKE LITERALLY answer back to Joshua the very thing that God so deliberately wanted to emphasize to Joshua…Only be strong and courageous! Wow! Truly amazing how the Word of God is wonderfully written and the structure of application. Three things came to mind when I read that verse 18:
- Moses did a great job in passing along that message from God
- They remembered Moses telling them that same battle cry
- God used those tribes to remind Joshua once again
If you will allow me just a little time with showing you how those three things come to play. Let me take you a little further back to the book of Deuteronomy. Watch this!
Deuteronomy 31:1–8
1 Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel:
2 “I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’
3 The LORD your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the LORD said.
4 And the LORD will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land.
5 The LORD will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you.
6 Be 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 ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance.
8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Did you guys see that? Moses went out and spoke to all Israel and basically is telling them that his journey has ended. He will not be able to continue with them but he tells them twice, “Be strong and courageous.” The first time in Verse 6. The second time in Verse 7. Truly amazing, right?!
And then we have this other random verse that emphasizes this phrase to Joshua. And please understand that I call it random, because it truly does not tie in to what is going on at that specific time. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that God’s Word is random so I know that it truly has a reason for it being there, it just doesn’t seem to connect with the before and after verses of scripture. Let me show you that verse real quickly.
Deuteronomy 31:23
23 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.”
So once again, Joshua is given this command a loooooooong time before our VOTD. Our VOTD is in Joshua. These that I just brought out were found in the book of Deuteronomy. Amazing!
APPLICATION:
So there you have it Fam! You have to understand that sometimes the Word of God is not just right before and right after reading. Sometimes you have to go even further back or even further ahead to see how it all connects. Truly amazing how it’s all structured. So I spend a lot of time in explaining the question that God challenged Joshua and didn’t spend too much time on the actual VOTD in itself of what God said to Joshua to do, which was;
Joshua 1:9
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
I believe it’s because these are simple commands and my personal belief, it’s almost like a blessing and a battle cry mixed into one. Think about it. God is reminding Joshua these commands & truths:
Battle Cry Commands!
BE STRONG
BE COURAGEOUS
DO NOT BE AFRAID
DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED
Blessing Cry Truth!
FOR THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL BE WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO
Wow! I can get behind something like this. I’ve always enjoyed watching movies that had a war theme, a battle, a struggle, good vs bad. I believe this is why our God was telling Joshua this. Because he (Joshua) was about to enter seasons of life that were going to be challenging times and especially without not having his mentor and leader, Moses with him anymore. You have to remember that Moses just died. Can you imagine walking and seeing someone who challenged a pharaoh, “Let my people go!” And now he has been given that charge to take and lead God’s people the rest of the way into the promised land.
I’m sure we can ALL think of many people that have impacted our lives in such a way that we think, “How can I live or go on without that person in my life?” I’m sure we ALL have had seasons of life where we think, “How can I be strong right now?” I’m sure we ALL have even had people in our lives that we think, “How can I be courageous and stand up to them?” I’m sure we ALL have had our moments of being afraid and discouraged. But my dear family, let me take this time to let you know that your God is wanting you to remember that the same message He gave to a servant a long long time ago is still the same message that He is sending to you because of two reasons:
- He is still God
- You’re His beloved child
What earthly Father would not do the same for this children here on this side of heaven? NONE! So how much more sweeter it is to know that we ALL have a Heavenly Father that is stronger and courageous for his children.
So again I tell you and scream with a battle cry with you…
BE STRONG!
BE COURAGEOUS!
DO NOT BE AFRAID!
DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED!
…for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. (Sigh)
I will leave you with one last application. Do you remember those tribes that Joshua spoke to after God spoke to Joshua? Remember what they responded with back to Joshua? Here it is again;
Joshua 1:18
18 Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous! ”
Don’t forget to do as these tribes did. And that was to not only remember what Moses said to them but more importantly, remind Joshua of that Battle Cry. “Only be strong and courageous!”
You are called to remind others as well of this Battle — Blessing Cry for their seasons of life. They are depending on you for these:
- Your Strength!
- Your Courage!
- Your Light!
- Your Encouragement!
…because the Lord your God has been with you…every step of the way. (Sigh)
I am leaving you with a two video links to go and watch. The first one is one of my favorite movies of all time. The movie is Gladiator. And I want you to watch this one scene where they’re about to go into battle. They say something that has always resonated with me and where I got the idea for the title of this VOTD, STRENGTH AND HONOR. Is it the same as — Be Strong and Courageous? Hmmm…I think it could be.
Strength — Be Strong.
Honor — In order for you to be Courageous, you have to always want to do the right thing. That to me is a form of Honor.
There is another line in there that has always resonated with me as well. The line is:
“People should know when they’re conquered.”
I won’t say too much about this line just this…
Even in our own battles, we should take note of what conquers us. And then scream to it with a battle cry…
- I am STRONG!
- I have COURAGE!
- I am NOT afraid!
- I am ENCOURAGED!
…because the Lord, my God is with me.
Gladiator — STRENGTH AND HONOR
And lastly, the second video link is a scene out of one of my favorite tv shows of all time. The show is called This Is Us. And since we have been talking about battle cries, this is also a good attachment to those four things above. Enjoy!
This Is Us — Season 5, Episode 6
Have a GREAT day today!
❤️
