Have you ever had someone tell you, “You’ve got to be strong on this one,”? “It’s going to take courage to handle this problem,”? Whether it’s a big problem or a little one, a little courage along the way always helps. The Bible speaks of a man who received this very word of confidence before he set out on his assignment. In fact, he was told this very thing three times within the first nine verses of the book that has his name. His name was Joshua and he was about to lead the children of Israel across the Jordan River to conquer the kingdoms of the Promised Land that Moses had been leading them to do.
Joshua was Moses’ righthand- man when it came to leading an army into battle. The children of Israel had not yet experienced battle, but they were about to, in order to conquer the people of Canaan so they could go in and possess the land God was giving them. In these first nine verses of the book of Joshua, God told him, “Now that my servant Moses is dead, you must lead my people across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. Only be strong and very courageous, for no one will be able to stand against you as long as you live, for I will be with you as I was with Moses.” Then two more times He told Joshua, “Be strong and very courageous, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go!”
You see, they were about to do warfare as no man had ever done it before. They were about to destroy the city walls that surrounded the city of Jericho in a manner that had never been done, and to my knowledge, has never been repeated! They were about to knock down the strong walls of Jericho with the blast of the horns and the shout of their voices! For seven days Joshua was to lead his army around the city of Jericho once a day, and then on the seventh day, they were to march around seven times, and on the seventh time, the priests were to give one long blast of their horns and at Joshua’s command the entire army was to shout! And the walls of Jericho came tumbling down so the army of Israel could go in and destroy their enemy. Have you ever heard anything like that before?
