(Joshua 1:9) Finding Courage Under Fire
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The Civil War General Thomas Jackson was known for his heroic leadership.
He was known for being with his troops, regardless of the risk to himself.
He often conducted his own reconnaissance patrols, not afraid to risk his own life.
But we know him today as Stonewall Jackson - because at the First Battle of Bull Run.
While other Generals fled - he rallied his troops to hold the line.
And today we remember him not has Thomas Jackson, but Stonewall Jackson.
But what gave Stonewall Jackson the courage to face battle so boldly?
10,000 Sermon Illustrations Stonewall Jackson
Historian Mark Brimsley wrote,
“A battlefield is a deadly place, even for generals; and it would be naive to suppose Jackson never felt the animal fear of all beings exposed to wounds and death. but invariably he displayed extraordinary calm under fire, a calm too deep and masterful to be mere pretense. His apparent obliviousness to danger attracted notice, and after the First Manassas battle someone asked him how he managed it. “My religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed,” Jackson explained. ‘God knows the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter where it may overtake me.’ He added pointedly, ‘That is the way all men should live, and than all would be equally brave.’“
A former Daily Bread Article
While Stonewall Jackson may be best remembered for his courage,
may we not neglect where his courage came from.
It came from his resolute faith in God’s providential hand.
I thought it would be fitting this Memorial Day Weekend - to talk about courage.
Where do we get courage?
Courage to do what is right - regardless of the cost.
Courage to stand for God - even when others mock.
Boldness to dare to do what others say is impossible.
For our Marines here on the station, none of us know what tomorrow holds.
James Mattis says in his book, Call Sign Chaos -
Today is peace, but tomorrow is war.
Where do our Marines find courage to face the Battles we might send them to?
What better answer could I give you - than Joshua 1:9.
Joshua was a seasoned soldier and general.
Him and Caleb were the only two Spies who returned from Canaan - and said they ought to go battle the giants in the land.
He defended Israel during the Wilderness.
- Edomites
- Amalakeites
- Hivities
- and the Midianites
They had lots of termites in those woods.
And now, 40 years latter, God has commissioned him to lead Israel to conquer the Promised land.
We might expect Joshua to not be afraid.
A seasoned soldier, ready for Battle.
A General ready to command the Armies of Israel.
And yet - we must presume that task was difficult enough -
that God believed Joshua would be afraid and dismayed.
Afraid and dismayed at the
Fortified Cities
Vast Armies
And giants
>>>> That they will face as the conquer the promised land.
In fact, The first initiative would have been, The Great walled city of Jericho - Guarding the Jordan entrance into Canaan.
We must presume that Joshua might be afraid,
because God not once, but three times tells him to not be afraid, by very courageous. (v. 6,7, 9)
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. 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. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
In final concluding emphasis, God tells Joshua:
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
I challenge us this morning -
To Be Strong and Courageous.
To Boldly Champion the things of God.
And to Find Your Strength and Courage in God’s Omnipresence.
First, Joshua 1:9 teaches us -
(1) To Be Strong and Courageous.
(1) To Be Strong and Courageous.
Joshua 1:9 tells us -
Joshua 1:9 (ESV)
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.
Long before the Navy talked about warrior toughness,
and the Marine Corp immortalized “pain as weakness leaving the body”.
God was talking about being “strong”.
The Word literally means - to grow and is implied here as being Strong.
For Joshua, Strength meant -
To be tenacious enough to win battles.
To be strong enough to endure the sweat and exhaustion of a military campaign.
To be tough enough to endure long marches against hostile armies.
To be strong.
Service members know what it means to be strong … to train to be physically toughest you can be.
But courage is different than strength.
Strength is the idea of power or might, but courage is the willingness to accept the risk of personal loss.
At the heart of courage is the willingness to face a very real danger.
The Hebrew Lexicon teaches us that this Word means - to be Bold.
It would take Boldness and courage for Joshua to lead Israel to -
Face opposing Armies, on their home turf.
And To siege fortress cities along the path.
ILLUSTRATION:
We are watching this live the last few months in Ukraine.
War is a necessary reality at times, but War is a destructive nasty business.
And it is one thing to defend your homeland, but is twice at difficult to fight someone on the home turf.
And so three times God tells Joshua - Be Strong and courageous.
But what is the opposite of Strength and Courage?
Fear and Dismay
God commands Joshua to be strong and courageous, but warns him not be afraid or dismayed.
Joshua 1:9 (ESV)
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed
Real strength and courage is not found in the leisure of everyday.
Real Strength and Courage is always demonstrated under fire.
When everything is on the line, and we have everything to loose … now we are talking about real strength and courage.
Which means Strength and Courage … is always a choice were making.
> Those who choose strength and courage,
are always choosing strength and courage over fear and dismay.
> When we face real dangers … were are always and inevitably choosing whether to be strong and courageous or fearful and dismayed.
CAVEAT:
Obviously, any natural, normal person will at times be afraid and dismayed at what God is asking Joshua to do.
But God is telling Joshua to choose strength and courage over fear and dismay.
APPLICATION/EXHORTATION:
Now you might be wondering - what do I do with this?
While I understand why God would tell Joshua to be strong and courageous - why do I need to be strong and courageous.
My answer to you is this - the Christian life is not the life of leisure.
We need to choose strength and courage over fear and dismay.
We know we need this -
> Because Paul starts out the whole armor of God with this -
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
1 Corinthians 16:13 (ESV)
Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
- It sounds a lot like Joshua 1:9.
- He tells us to stand and be strong against the powers of evil.
> Paul told the Romans in Romans 8:35 to remember God loves you
when you face tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
You need strength and courage to face those trials.
> Paul challenged Timothy to -
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
> And Paul tells the Galatians not be weary
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
>Further, Peter tells us to be aware of Satan
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
> John wrote in 1 Jn 2:14 -
I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
To often, Christians are pictured as weak, timid people … who need a crutch to make it through life.
But I contend this -
Living for Christ is not for whimps.
> When you realize that Paul wrote to the Ephesians, Corinthians, and the Colossians about those who have departed the Faith.
> When you have counseled people … who are blind to their sin.
> When you in your workplace or neighborhood, a church sometimes … have to take a stand for the Lord and what is right.
Your realize being Christian is not for whimps.
We as Christians need to be just as strong and courageous as Joshua was as he prepared for the Battle of Jericho.
We must choose to be strong and courageous,
over fear and dismay.
First, Joshua 1:9 teaches us to be strong and courageous.
Secondly, Joshua 1:9 teaches us -
(2) To Boldly Champion the things of God.
(2) To Boldly Champion the things of God.
Have you ever watched someone be strong and courageous about the wrong things?
- I remember one camp speaker who talked about a kid who was strong and courageous.
This 10 year old boy was given a great big sword,
He put on a cape.
And he would go around neighborhood saying … “I got the power”
One day, he sees a bunch of his friends getting stung by a swarm of bee’s …
and he bravely he raised his sword and said … “I got the power”.
To say the least, he found out he didn’t have the power.
We can be brave and strong about the wrong things.
We cannot really understand Joshua 1:9, unless we relate it to the context of Joshua 1.
Without the context, we are endanger of being courageous about the wrong things.
So,
What was Joshua to be brave and strong
- and I believe Joshua 1:1-9 gives us two answers to that.
First
(a) In Joshua 1:1-6 - God compelled Joshua to go up and take the land of Canaan.
To be strong and courageous was to be brave and bold in battle.
But God clarifies - just as he is to be bold in battle,
(b) Joshua 1:7-8 tells us he must boldly meditate and keep the Law.
Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Joshua was to be strong and bold in battle,
but equally was to be strong and bold in the Word of God.
Consider that for a moment ....
One of the great passages for courage and prowliness …
is also a passage for careful meditation on the Word.
I appreciated the challenge one scholar made about the connection between ...
- Joshua’s strength and courage,
- and his meditation on the Word.
The context here in Joshua is very clear about what is to be the key to Joshua’s success (1:7–8): he is “to be careful to obey all the law”; he is not to turn from it to the right or the left; he is to have it constantly on his lips and to meditate on it at all times; and he is carefully to do everything written in it. His focus is to be upon God’s word and will; then, as he leads Israel in taking the land of Canaan, success will come to him
David M. Howard Jr., Joshua, vol. 5, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 89.
In other words … true toughness, strength, courage, and boldness is not just found in physical fitness alone, or in mental toughness …
But true strength and courage must include in a person’s commitment to the boundaries and worship of God.
I challenged us to be strong and courageous …
but as I say that … I am saying … Go Boldly Champion the things of God.
We ought to be championing - being strong and courageous and bold in everything the Word tells us.
And by doing so … we learn to truly become strong and courageous.
So, we are -
(1) To be strong and couragous.
(2) To Boldly champion the things of God.
And finally …
(3) To Find Your Strength and Courage in God’s Omnipresence.
(3) To Find Your Strength and Courage in God’s Omnipresence.
It is easy to say be strong and courageous … and yet one of the greatest questions in life is where you find strength and courage.
Many people find strength and courage in themselves.
But that has inherent problem.
Life is always bigger and tougher than we are.
Anybody, who has entered the ring of life,
and truly lived live …
knows that life always is bigger and tougher.
Not everybody makes the cut off.
Not everybody lives to grow old.
Not everybody finds the American dream.
In fact, most, if not all, will live through tragedies and hardships.
Thus, people who really lived life know … one of the greatest life questions is where you get your strength from.
Where do you get your strength from, when life knocks you down?
God gave Joshua a great source of strength and courage.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua is an amazing Bible character,
and I am fascinated at how well he lived his life as a military commander.
But what was his secret? God was with him.
The very presence of God gave him the strength and courage he needed.
ILLUSTRATION:
- A standard question Chaplains are asked by the selection board is where you get your strength from.
- I have been asked by many … how do you not leave work depressed after hearing everyone’s problems.
I had somebody ask that just last week.
And admittedly there are many answers to that .... but one great is that God is always with me.
And remind us … this not just an Old Testament truth.
It is also a new Testament.
Consider, Jesus’s final words to his disciples.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
CONCLUSION:
So I challenge us this Memorial day weekend -
To Be Strong and Courageous in the Lord.
To Be Strong and Courageous in the Lord.
Many of us look back on history at people, like Stonewall Jackson, with a bit of admiration for his calmness under fie.
But what put Stonewall in the name Stonewall Jackson.
>>>> The Presence and Sovereignty of God.<<<<<
May we depart here, ready to be strong and courageous in the things of God.