A Command, Not a Suggestion

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 63, A Command, Not a Suggestion.

"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." Joshua 1:9.

Listen to how God opens this: "Have I not commanded you?" That's not a question from someone who doesn't know the answer. It's a question demanding memory. Joshua had already heard this — from Moses, and now from God Himself, directly. The courage God calls for here is not new information. It's a reaffirmation of something already said, at the exact moment Joshua needed to remember it most.

And look at the context: Moses has just died. The only leader that entire people had known their whole lives is gone. And it is precisely in that moment — the most uncertain, the most fragile point of Joshua's entire leadership — that God speaks courage over him. Not after things settled down. Not once the fear had already left on its own. Right in the middle of the uncertainty.

Now pay attention to the grammar of this command — because it matters. "Be strong and courageous" isn't a gentle suggestion, like someone saying "it would be nice if you tried to be brave." It's an imperative. A direct command. God isn't offering courage as a menu option. He's ordering it, the way He expects obedience to any other command. And that, my friend, is an enormous relief — because it means courage doesn't depend on you feeling like it. It's an act of obedience, just like any other commandment.

And God names with precision the two enemies Joshua — and you — will face. "Do not be frightened" — that's the fear that paralyzes, that locks your legs in place, that makes you back away from the giant. And "do not be dismayed" — that's something else, quieter, slower: it's the hollowing out, the soul-weariness that makes you give up on the inside before the battle even starts. God doesn't ignore either one. He speaks directly to both.

And what's the antidote to both? The same promise: "the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Notice that — "wherever you go." This isn't a fixed presence, anchored to some safe camp, some already-conquered land. It's a presence that travels. That crosses the Jordan with you. That walks into the walled city with you. That climbs the mountain with you. There is no destination in your life, no city, no chapter, that falls outside the reach of this promise.

So today, before breakfast, I want you to do something concrete. Think of one specific place you're headed today — it could be work, a hospital, a hard meeting, or simply your own home, where the silence sometimes weighs more than any giant. And declare out loud: "The Lord is there with me." Not as wishful thinking. As obedience to a command already given.

You don't need to feel courageous before you can be courageous. You only need to remember who is going with you.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.