Joshua 1:9

Here lies the true secret of stability and peace at all times and under all circumstances. The authority of God for the ground we occupy, and His presence with us thereon — the Word of the Lord as the warrant for what we are doing, and the light of His countenance in the doing of it. There is no possibility of getting on without these two things. It will not do merely to be able to give chapter and verse for a certain position which we have taken up; we must realize the Lord's own presence with us. And it will not do to say we have the Lord's presence with us, unless we can give a divine warrant, a "Thus says the Lord" for what we are doing and for the path we are treading.

Joshua could never have faced the difficulties of his day without these two things. And although we may not have to meet the same things that lay in his path, yet we may rest assured of this, we shall never get on in these days without the Word of God as our authority and His presence as our strength.

And what a grand word is this to give strength, — "Have not I commanded thee?" How good to bow ourselves to this yoke, and to remember that where God has spoken we must be either servants or rebels; let the matter of the command be what it may.

In verse 9 we find a further principle: "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage." What power the assurance of God's mind gives! All indecision as to the path, all terror, all fear of the enemy disappear. Satan cannot harm us; has not God commanded us?

"Be strong and of a good courage." The last words one sees are very emphatic, and even in the first chapter repeated over and over again... Presumption is man's courage founded on self — on the first man. The strength and good courage of the Christian is founded only on Christ. The difference therefore is complete. We cannot be too great-hearted if Christ be the one source of our courage: we owe it to Him.

The essential requisite for confidence and courage is the assurance that we are in the path of God's will. To be without this, as the Scripture history continually illustrates, is to expose ourselves to the attacks of Satan on every side through our weakness and irresolution. Hence it is that the Lord says to Joshua, "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage," etc. For together with the consciousness that the Lord is sending us on any service, the conviction is divinely begotten in our hearts that He will sustain us in the face of all obstacles, and conduct us to the end He has in view.

God's own command is our authority, His presence is our power. God, who gives the command, is with the soldier who obeys His command. The strength here enjoined is that of the hand for taking and holding, and that of the knee not to be overthrown.

Fear is a bad symptom in the Christian. Fear indicates the presence of unbelief in God, or of some unjudged evil in ourselves. Not, indeed, that godly loving fear, that reverence, which dreads lest God should not be really obeyed, or His will should not be clearly apprehended, but that fear which quails before the enemy and hinders Christian warfare. Firm faith in God dispels dismay before enemies.

Joshua, therefore, was put upon this rock of God's will, that when he might see in after-days, the Amorites and Canaanites, the seven nations, swarming around the armies of Israel, he might not be afraid nor be dismayed; that he might say with David in a later day, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

Again, another principle; the starting-point is that we have the authority of God to walk with Christ. Then there is energy. It is the certitude of God's will.

"I will not fail thee nor forsake thee;" words which the apostle teaches us so to apply to ourselves as boldly to say, "The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." (Heb. 13:6.) This strength of an arm which is not our own arm is the sweetest kind of strength that creature can know. It is companionship, communion, perfect security, — all holiness in it, all wisdom. God with us means all that God is.

Here is another point of immense importance. We have not only the word but God Himself... The time comes when the fresh bloom of truth is apt to pass. If it be no longer a new thing, what is to sustain a soul then? God Himself in the sense that He is with us — in the sense of His will as alone wise and good and holy. Then it is that, even though there may be trial, difficulty, and a thousand things exceedingly repulsive to our nature, yet the consciousness of His presence supplies what is lacking, and outweighs every seeming drawback. What can be wanting when God is with us, and in perfect love?

We are taught, therefore, that, in all our service and conflicts, it is utterly useless, yea, worse than useless, to proceed unless the Lord is with us. It is not too much to say, indeed, that all the defeats of the people of God may be traced back to the lack of this one essential of success... Too much reliance is often placed upon the general truth that the Lord's presence can be counted upon; the point to be remembered is, that except we are in the path of His will and following after holiness He will not manifest Himself as being with His saints.

Our lot is cast in a time of special confusion. A multitude of conflicting voices fall on the ear. Men are taking sides. We see apparently the best and holiest, the most devoted and intelligent men ranged on opposite sides of the same question and pursuing opposite ways, though professing to follow the same Lord. What are we to think? What are we to do? What do we want? We want to hear, deep down in our very inmost soul, these two weighty and imperishable sentences, "Have not I commanded thee?" — "Lo, I am with thee." These are grand realities which the feeblest and most unlettered saint may enjoy, and without which none can possibly make headway against the tide of evil at present rising around us.

Do not, therefore, we entreat you, be satisfied with anything less than God's authority and God's presence. Be not troubled or perplexed about the conflicting opinions of men... Far above all the din and confusion, the strife and controversy, the opposition of sects and parties — far above all these things, in the clear light of the divine presence, in the calmness of the inner sanctuary, faith can hear with distinctness those precious, soul-sustaining words, "Have not I commanded thee?", "Lo, I am with thee."