A Year Without Fear (Joshua 1:6,7,9)
WELCOME to our daily look at Joshua. I started this study because I have deeply enjoyed my study of Joshua in the last month as Jon and I have prepared for SUNDAY SCARIES: Facing the Future with Faith.
Sunday Scaries, a social media and general social phenomena, is an anxiety that hits Americans on Sunday afternoons. There, after the fun and relaxation of the weekend we suddenly become disquieted, dismayed and anxious about the week to come. Wikipedia says Sunday Scaries is “… a feeling of anxiety and dread that occurs as the weekend ends and the workweek begins. It's a type of anticipatory anxiety, where you feel nervous about something that hasn't happened yet, like the week ahead.”
In essence, we fear our future.
Persistent fear, according to Chapman University, can “negatively affects individuals’ decision-making abilities” and “causes anxiety, depression, and poor physical health.” Fear of our future, therefore actually AFFECTS the efficacy of our future.
This is why, in the book of Joshua, God’s encouragement, indeed God’s COMMAND is to “fear not.”
In Joshua 1: 6,7 and 9 God tells Joshua THREE times to not fear. Three times - “Be strong and courageous.” The word for “strong” is the Hebrew word Hazaq which means “to be strong, or BECOME strong. To be firm, or BECOME firm.” To be courageous is the Hebrew word Ames with means to be “brave on foot, and alert”. It comes with a mental picture of an agile soldier.
God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous, even while he KNOWS that what awaits Joshua will indeed be valid reasons to fear. God knows, for example, that Joshua will fight 13 battles, with 31 kings over the course of 7 years. PLENTY of obstacles, enemies and scenarios where he could melt in fear. It is in this context that God tells Josh to NOT fear.
What would it look like to go a WHOLE year WITHOUT fear?
I think that’s a question worth asking, and certainly one Joshua is posing. Joshua is going to “not fear” for SEVEN years.
In our future, this month, this year: God KNOWS what lies ahead. And to be sure - there are reasons probably to be afraid. But the lessons from Joshua is that even when there are reasons TO fear, we can still walk “brave on foot” because we know “the Lord God is with us wherever we go.”
As we approach this week read Joshua 1 at least once.
What are things this coming week causing you Sunday Scaries or fear?
What vision do you believe God has for you this week that you can use to combat those fears?
May you walk “brave on foot” today, alert, and poised for all the promise that God has. He is WITH you, whoever you go.