Facing Life's Challenges Confidently

(Joshua 1:1-9)

Everyone faces challenges everyday. Some are less spectacular than the others. We may face trials or tests that are ordinary to other people but life-changing to us. Raising children is a major challenge to parents. Establishing a life-long relationship with someone is a serious challenge that must not be taken for granted. School life is a challenge to the young as well as to the adults. Getting settled to a new place and looking for employment are real tests for some of you. Living as a Christian in our workplaces is a big struggle.

As a church reaching out to the community with the gospel of Jesus Christ is an enormous challenge. Even our individual responsibility to be God's witnesses becomes a test of faith to be faced. In the whole scheme of life, challenges are good for us. For one thing they often are catalysts for spiritual growth. How can we face these challenges with confidence and assurance so as to produce in us God's intended purposes? How can we be sure that God will grant us success leading to His glory and our good?

The life of Joshua is a life of confident living in the face of overwhelming challenges. He is the one man God appoints to lead the nation Israel to conquer the Promised Land. Leading no less than two million people to a place no one knows about, fighting battles nobody has had the training to engage with is a big challenge. How can he face this task successfully?

The first nine verses of the book named after him, is God's instruction to this man of God on how to face the challenges of life with confidence. His confidence rests not on his ability as a leader, but in the God who will gain the victory for them. There are valuable lessons from this instruction to Joshua that we can apply to our own Christian journey. As Paul writes in 1Cor.10:11, "These things happened to them (referring to Israel's history) as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come." Let me submit to you four elements in God's instruction to Joshua. 1) A Timely Reminder, 2) A Faithful Promise, 3) A Daring Exhortation, 4) An Indispensable Command.

Outline:

1) A Timely Reminder (1-2).

Look at vs.1-2: "After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: 'Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan river into the land I am about to give them- to the Israelites.'"

God reminding Joshua that Moses is dead. Of course Moses was dead. In fact they were just completing the mourning period for him. Deut.34:8 says, "The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over." So, why would the Lord tell Joshua that Moses is dead? God spoke to remind him that Moses' work is over, that he is not a factor anymore in God's plan for the Israelites to conquer the promised land. You see, Moses had been Israel's deliverer for so many years. Through him God demonstrated His presence and power. People, including Joshua were so dependent on him for leadership; and now that he is dead, everything stands still- no activity, no movement. God is saying to Joshua, if I may paraphrase it: "Look Moses is dead, and my plans for you did not die with him; my goals for you are not dependent on him being alive; he has done his part, he is not expendable, no one else, you know that. Therefore, you must move on and leave the past behind. Your quest of gaining the promise land must go on without him- get yourselves ready to cross the Jordan river!"

So many times we allow the personalities, the experiences, the events of the past to hinder us from fulfilling God's goal for our lives? We let the past prevents us from facing life's challenges confidently. Yes, we can learn lessons from the past but that should never be a major factor in facing the challenges that will lead us to God's ultimate objective. Paul says in Phil.3:13-14: "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." God has to remind Joshua that fulfillment of His plan for him and the nation Israel does not rest on Moses' leadership. They must not pin their hopes on him, for he is dead. Instead, they must trust Jehovah God for their future.

As believers, the new Israel of God, our future life is in God's keeping. Personalities, events and experiences of the past are but instruments in the hands of God for accomplishing His purposes. Let us not rest our confidence on them but rather keep moving on in the strength that God gives, knowing that "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil.1:6).

2) A Faithful Promise (3-5).

There are a lot of Christians who go through life sick and tired of carrying unnecessary burdens and going through enormous struggles because they fail to know and appropriate God's wonderful promises. We are not saying that true Christians will not have burdens and struggles, because they do. What we are saying is that God's promises known and acted upon by faith makes the burden light and the struggles manageable.

One of the things Joshua heard from God before they embarked for the Promised Land was a reiteration of God's promise. Look at vs.3-5: "I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river the Euphrates- all the Hittite country- to the Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Wow! Can you imagine what these words mean to Joshua who is facing a great challenge? They are confidence-building words. They come in one package I call, a faithful promise pack. In it are three promises. First, God promises Joshua possession of the land. Look at v.3, "I will give you every place where you set your foot..." This simply means that God will grant Joshua victory over his enemies. But such victory or possession of the land will come as a result of his "setting his foot on them" which implies that he has to fight and drive them out. God will give him victory as he battles against his foes. Do you know that out of the many battles Joshua fought, he was only defeated once (at Ai as a result of Achan's sin)?

As believers, one of our challenges involves struggling with worldly forces - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. But God promises us victory over them. Jesus says in Jn.16:33: "I have told you these things (the hatred, persecution from the world) so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

This does not mean that since God has already overcome the world, since victory is secured, that we stop fighting. No! We still have to engage the enemy, putting on the full armor of God, but not in our strength, but that of the Lord. Then and only then can we gain the promised victory.

Secondly, God promises Joshua not only possession of the land, that is, victory over his enemies, but also power over them. Look at v.5: "No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life." Joshua will be so powerful that no nation will be able to defeat him. No man can prevent Israel from reaching God's ultimate goal for them- the occupation of the promised land. Now, what kind of power does God promise to Joshua? It is the same power that forced Pharaoh on his knees, that divided the Red Sea, and that caused the sun to stand still. For us, believers, it is the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Just think of it. We have this kind of power residing in us, as Paul says in Rom.8:31, "What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?" The answer is n-o-o-o-body! For "greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world" (1Jn.4:4).

It was God's power that prevented Paul from being defeated and feeling defeated. After being told that God's grace is sufficient for his "thorn in the flesh" he said, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me" (2Cor.12:9). As our Church go door-to-door visitation we will encounter opposition. People will close their doors on us, reject our visits, and be indifferent to our offer. It can get pretty discouraging and scary. But we must remember, we have God's mighty power behind our activity (Mt.28:18). Our labor for the Lord is not according to our strength but according to His. Our ability is no longer measured by our power but by His. Paul testifies in Col.1:29: "To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me." There is nothing we cannot do, if it is God's will. Phil. 4:13: "I can do everything through Him (that is, Christ) who gives me strength."

Thirdly, God also promises Joshua His presence. Look at v.5b: "As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you." Joshua will experience God's continuing presence. He will be real to him. Isn't this a wonderful promise to lean on when facing insurmountable challenges?

In late January 1956, during the tense days of the Montgomery Boycott, civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. could not sleep. A threatening phone call had terrified him. So he prayed, "I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter. I am at the end of my powers...I can't face it alone." King later wrote, "At that moment I experienced the presence of the Divine as I never experienced Him before. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying, 'Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever.' Almost at once my fears began to go. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything." The psalmist testifies, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me..." What peace, what comfort, what assurance, what security, when we experience the overwhelming awareness of God's presence. Such promise truly helps us face life's challenges with confidence.

3) A Daring Exhortation (6-9).

In verses 6-9, God dares Joshua with the exhortation to be "strong and courageous" three times (6, 7, and 9). Why? The journey to the promised land will be filled with discouragements, hardships, struggles, and fierce battles. They will be confronted with enemies from without as well as from within, physical as well as spiritual. Israel didn't fight a single battle while in the wilderness, except among themselves (murmuring, complaining and rebelling against their leaders). Only when they entered the promised land did they encounter warfare. That is significant.

As believers, living the fullness of Christian experience here on earth is dotted with spots of perilous conflicts and challenges. Christian life is no fun in the sun, walk on the beach, or picnic in the park. It is a battle; a constant hand to hand, eye to eye, face to face combat with the flesh, the world and the devil. Although the battle is not ours but the Lord, we must struggle and strive. We must be strong and courageous.

How? 1) Obedience to God's Words. Listen to Moses in Deut.11:8: "Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess." We can never be strong and courageous to face the challenges before us apart from the encouragement of Scripture we consistently keep and apply in our life. 2) Putting God's Armor. Eph.6:10-11: "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. (How?) Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." The details of that armor are in the succeeding verses. 3) Fixing our Eyes on Jesus. Heb.12:2-3 says, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." To grow weary and to lose heart are just the opposite of being strong and courageous. And the key to avoiding these is by "fixing our eyes of Jesus Christ."

4) An Indispensable Command (7-8).

"Be strong and 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. Do not let the Book of the Law depart form your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful" (7-8). How are we to gain success over the challenges we are facing everyday? Obey God's Word. This is the indispensable command; the bottom-line of all that we've been talking about. But obedience to God's word can only come about when we do these two things. These are really basic stuff.

1) Keep God's Word. "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth..." This is simply saying the negative of "keeping God's Word" - not allowing to escape from ones lips. Since what comes out of the mouth has its source in the heart we are to hide God's word in our heart. By reading, listening, memorizing. 2) Meditate on God's Word. To meditate means to reflect, to think through its truth and meaning and its relationship to life. Notice the frequency of our meditation: day and night. This means that my mind should be occupied by God's truth. It is only then that I can obey, as the Holy Spirit takes the meditated truth and apply it to my life.

Brothers and sisters, God's goal for our lives is that we experience all that He has promised us in Christ Jesus. As we live the Christ-like life, we face challenges that mold us to His desired purpose Victorious life is God's gift to every believer, already accomplished by the death and resurrection of our Lord.. But that doesn't mean that every Christian automatically experiences this victory over their challenges. We must appropriate and act on what God has made available - His Promises, His Commands. When we do, like Joshua we will have the confidence to face life's challenges with confidence and with success to the Glory of God. Amen!!!