February 27, 2025 - Joshua 1-3

The book of Deuteronomy ends:  “Moses was 120 years old when he died.  His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated.  And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. . . . There has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face” (Deuteronomy 34:7-8,10).  The book of Joshua begins with instructions and wonderful promises given to Joshua:  “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.  Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.  Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you” (Joshua 1:5-7).

Two situations.  Two men.  What’s the common denominator?  Pretty clear, isn’t it?  Moses, “whom the Lord knew face to face.”  Joshua, to whom the Lord said, “I will be with you.  I will not leave you or forsake you.”  You know, we have the same God as these two men, the God who knows and loves us, the God who is always with us and always will be.  We live in a world that is so often hostile to us and to our message but, like Moses and Joshua, we can be “strong and courageous” knowing that “he who is in [us] is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4)

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!

What more can He say than to you He hath said,

To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

“Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,

For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;

I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,

Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.”   -- George Keith (1787)