You know what it’s like to feel all alone, even afraid, but then somebody comes along and just their presence brightens your outlook and gives you strength. Joshua was faced with an overwhelming situation as he was about to lead the Israelites across the Jordan River into the Promised Land. Moses was now dead, so this monumental, lonely leadership task fell to Joshua. At this moment, the Lord charged him, “Be strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:6, 9).
But where would Joshua get strength and courage to guide God’s people into a land full of people who hated the one true God? It would come from God’s rock solid promises (vv. 2-4, 6), his trustworthy word (vv. 7-8), and his powerful presence (vv. 5, 9). It’s that last source that I want to highlight especially. The Lord told Joshua, “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you” (v. 5). And then he concluded his words to Moses, “Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (v. 9).
The Lord was telling Joshua that, even though Moses was gone, he was not; he was right there with him, and he wasn’t going anywhere. “So fear no man. Don’t be frightened or dismayed. Everywhere you go, I’ll be there. Every time you come face-to-face with a giant who wants to hurt you or destroy you, you can be strong and courageous because I will be there actively providing for you with my unsurpassed power.”
The great American frontiersman Daniel Boone had a 14 year-old daughter named Jemima. She and her friends Elizabeth and Frances Callaway were captured one Sunday in 1776 by some Native Americans. Three days later, Daniel Boone and the men with him found the kidnappers and the girls. Once they fired the first shot at the Native Americans, Jemima, sitting on a log with the Callaway girls, lept up and shouted, “That’s Daddy!” (Boone, Robert Morgan, 209). It was like she was saying, “He’s here! We’re going to be okay!” And so they were.
Joshua’s heavenly “Daddy” was promising his felt presence and never-ending provision: “I will not leave you or forsake you.” This same hope and experience is true today for every believer in Jesus who, you might remember, was called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). The author of Hebrews even quoted a portion of Joshua 1:5 when he wrote: “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (13:5). He continues (quoting Psalm 118:6), “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
When the world tempts, or trouble comes, we don’t have to wait for “Daddy” to arrive. He’s already with us.