Be Strong and of a Good Courage

There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest. (Joshua 1:5-7)

God told Joshua to be strong and courageous three separate times in this chapter. Be strong. Be courageous. That's not filler. When God repeats Himself that many times in one chapter, it usually means He knows exactly how scared the person in front of Him is.

Can you blame Joshua? He was stepping into Moses' spot. Moses was the guy who parted a sea, talked to God face-to-face, and led an entire nation for forty years. How do you follow that? Joshua had every reason to feel like he was about to fail publicly at an impossible job.

But God didn’t hand him a pep talk full of empty encouragement. He gave him an actual assignment and told him what to do with his mouth and his mind while he did it. He was to divide the land for an inheritance. He had a task to fulfill and a purpose to accomplish.

Courage is never the absence of fear. It’s when you purpose to move forward with what God told you, even when your knees are shaking—not because you believe you will be perfect, but because the One who gave you the assignment will be with you the whole time.

Practical Application

Name the assignment in front of you that feels too big for who you think you are. Say out loud today that you're strong and courageous, whether you feel it yet or not.

Deuteronomy 31:6; Hebrews 13:5