Living with Strength and courage

 DEVOTION

JOSHUA

LIVING WITH STRENGTH AND COURAGE

Josh 10:15-28

15 Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal. 16 Now the five kings had fled and hidden in the cave at Makkedah. 17 When Joshua was told that the five kings had been found hiding in the cave at Makkedah, 18 he said, "Roll large rocks up to the mouth of the cave, and post some men there to guard it. 19 But don't stop! Pursue your enemies, attack them from the rear and don't let them reach their cities, for the LORD your God has given them into your hand." 20 So Joshua and the Israelites destroyed them completely — almost to a man — but the few who were left reached their fortified cities. 21 The whole army then returned safely to Joshua in the camp at Makkedah, and no one uttered a word against the Israelites. 22 Joshua said, "Open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me." 23 So they brought the five kings out of the cave — the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon. 24 When they had brought these kings to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the army commanders who had come with him, "Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings." So they came forward and placed their feet on their necks. 25 Joshua said to them, "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the LORD will do to all the enemies you are going to fight." 26 Then Joshua struck and killed the kings and hung them on five trees, and they were left hanging on the trees until evening. 27 At sunset Joshua gave the order and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had been hiding. At the mouth of the cave they placed large rocks, which are there to this day. 28 That day Joshua took Makkedah. He put the city and its king to the sword and totally destroyed everyone in it. He left no survivors. And he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.

NIV

Although this narrative is about war and killing everyone and then the brutal action against the five kings, having the army commanders put their feet on the necks of the five kings, a sign of total disrespect, there is something we can identify with, or use as a lesson. Joshua repeated the words he had been spoken to by the LORD. “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the LORD will do to all the enemies you are to fight”. four things we can do as children of the Living God. We can never be afraid or discouraged, instead, we can be strong and courageous. That is two entirely different ways to live. We can become gripped with fear when we face our enemies, that is if we have any, but there are situations in life that cause us to become anxious or nervous to deal with. Those things that we should do, but fear holds us back. Then there are times when things are not going how we think they should, or we cannot seem to overcome the aches and pains our bodies want to inflict on us and discouragement starts to settle in because it seems the Lord is not answering our prayers to heal our bodies. But we have been healed regardless of the condition of our bodies, for we are spirits who live within bodies. However, it matters not, for Jesus healed the bodies of all who came to him, as he healed their spirits, turning them from the law to grace. Nevertheless, whatever we face in life, we can do it with strength and courage, not leaving any survivors of those things that come against us. We can be strong because He is strong. In other words, because we are weak, we are strong. Our strength comes from the Lord, as well does our courage. We are not meant to just live out our days doing whatever suits our fancy, especially as believers. We are running a race, pressing toward the goal, running, always running, never giving up, never getting pushed back, but running until we win the prize. God has a plan for our lives and we should be actively engaged in following that plan he has both laid out for us and shone his light for us to see our way. For us to just sit still, not pursuing the goal, is when we can see fear and discouragement becoming active. No, we must run the race, follow the Lord, keep on keeping on and be strong and have courage for our Lord will do great things for us, in us and through us, just as he had done for all those men of the past, like we see in Joshua. We will live with the strength of the Lord and with great courage because the Lord fights for us.