Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and of good courage;
do not be afraid, nor be dismayed,
for the LORD your God
is with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9
This familiar verse is part of the Lord’s speech to Joshua
just before the Children of Israel prepared to cross the Jordan
River, in order to conquer and inhabit the Land of Canaan promised
to them by the Lord. The Lord was to lead them to victory through
His agent, Joshua. But, of course, the Israelites were afraid since
they seemed to face insurmountable odds, for the Canaanites had
these advantages:
- a much larger population
- superior weaponry
- walled cities (and the Israelites without siege weapons)
- giant warriors
All of these seemed to give the Canaanites the
advantages they needed to defeat the ex-slaves from Egypt just recently
organized, especially in hand-to-hand combat.
But just as Joshua had done (along with Caleb) when he came back
from spying on the land to give a report to Moses 40 years earlier,
he reminded the people that because the Lord was on Israel’s
side and was its God, victory was assured. No merely military advantage
would enable the Canaanites to repel the Israelites – as long
as the Israelites obeyed their God and fought in His name.
Approaching adulthood and just entering it is similar to the Israelites
approaching and entering Canaan. Adolescence is a stage of preparation,
when the truths of the Lord’s Word are seen by an opening
rational mind, and a vision is developed of what a heavenly life
is. At the same time, adolescence is a time of wonder, confusion
and angst, for adolescents are searching for an identity, a role
to play in their peer society, and preparation for marriage, for
a career, and, hopefully, for heaven. It is a time in a person’s
life when courage is needed. Courage is needed by young adults as
well, for they are applying what they have learned, and are making
and implementing some of the most important decisions of their lives.
Of all the preparations and of all the choices, the spiritual ones
are the most important. We all need courage in all levels of life:
civil, moral and spiritual. But, again, courage with regard to spiritual
matters is essential. The Canaanites represent the evils in each
of us. They are numerous, are well protected and entrenched, and
some are very large and especially daunting. This is reality. But
the illusion is that they are insurmountable. If we have faith in
the Lord and are determined to obey His commandments, He will deal
with our evils and give us victory over them, one at a time, just
as He gave victory to Joshua and the Israelites over one city or
territory at a time.
Faith in the Lord also gives us peace, including in the other important
areas of our lives. He will guide us in our preparations for marriage,
and in marriage, if we let Him. He will give us confidence in pursuing
our careers and in fulfilling the obligations of all our uses, if
we let Him. He will give us the courage to do what is right and
to say what is true, if we let Him. And we let Him, when we work
with Him in building a personal relationship through prayer, through
reading His Word and through the shunning of evils and the doing
of what is good.
As we enter the new school year, and as we go through 2005-06, let
us have courage from the Lord and make the most of the opportunities
that lie before us.
Rev. Prescott A. Rogers, president
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