To Encourage You

Joshua 1:9 “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.”

Our emotional condition can have such an outsized influence on our life.  It can affect our countenance, for it’s hard to mask depression and it’s hard to mask joy. It can affect how we carry ourselves, i.e., with our head up and a brisk walk or our head down and a shuffling gait.  It can affect our outlook, for the exact same situation can look bleak or exciting to the same person depending on the emotional condition of their heart at the time. Fear can paralyze us. Discouragement can strip away our motivation and desire to keep on keeping on.   It’s all part of the human condition, as anyone who might be reading this knows full well.  

God knows all about this, for it was He Who made us.  And thankfully, He has something to say to us about it.  In the verse above, which God spoke to Joshua as He began to assume the reign of Moses, the great leader who had gone before him, He spoke to him about two emotional conditions that he would surely face. There would be times when he would be frightened, and there would be times when he would be dismayed or discouraged.  Likewise, the Lord knows that there will be times when WE will be frightened and times when WE will be dismayed or discouraged.  And so what does He say we should do about this if we find ourselves in such an emotional frame of mind?  He offers a simple (some might think a simplistic) answer. He simply says, “be strong and courageous,” and “stop being frightened or dismayed.” To this we might be tempted to reply, “that’s easy for YOU to say, for you are all-powerful and all-knowing and we are anything but.” Thankfully, it is because He IS these things that He heads us off at the pass, and tells us WHY we can obey His direct and simple commands. It’s because He is with us wherever we go!  He’s “near to the brokenhearted” (Psalm 34:18). He’s “near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” (Psalm 145:18).  In fact, we couldn’t get away from Him if we tried.

Listen to David in the words of Psalm 139 as he shares what he had learned over the years when he had so often found himself in overwhelming circumstances that were completely out of his control: “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.” And listen to what David learned in those times when his own thoughts were filled with fear and discouragement: “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.” 

Do you hear that? No matter what our thoughts, no matter what our emotional state, the omnipotent God is with us, the omniscient God is thinking about us!  We aren’t all alone. We aren’t forgotten. We aren’t in a condition that’s impossible to deal with, no matter how things might seem.  For although in our weakness and frailty things might seem overwhelming and bleak, we have a Great Shepherd Who has promised to lead us, even if our path should lead through the valley of the shadow of death.  And so our Great Shepherd commands us, “Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed,” for “the Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in FROM THIS TIME FORTH AND FOREVERMORE” (Psalm 121:7-8).

Praise be to His awesome name!