When Joshua was about to start his task as leader of the people of Israel, God told him to “be strong and of good courage.” When you think about someone or something strong, you might think of your dad who has big, strong muscles, or a thick rope that you can’t break.

But God meant something entirely different here when he told Joshua to be strong and of good courage. God told Joshua to be strong in him, in the Lord. He had to be firm, to be confident, to be brave, and to be bold in obeying the Lord. He had to trust in the Lord in order to do all the tasks he needed to do. And he had enormous tasks to do. He needed to lead Israel into the Promised Land and fight against all the people of Canaan.

Joshua couldn’t do any of these tasks on his own. No, he needed to do all these things by being brave and strong in the Lord. He had to listen to the Lord very closely to know what the Lord wanted him to do. He had to obey the Lord even when he was scared (and there were many times when he would have been scared). It also meant that he had to pray to the Lord all the time, asking God to help him as he did his tasks, asking the Lord to make him brave!

God had promised Joshua that he would be with him: “I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.” And do you know that God gives you the same promises? He will always be with you too. He will never leave you either. And just like Joshua, you too need to be strong and of good courage. You can do this by listening to God’s Word, by reading your Bible every day, and by always praying to God, asking him to be with you and to make you strong to obey him always.

Reflection with your child:

Do you remember to ask the Lord to help you be brave so that you can obey him?

Source: Sermon by Rev. R. Vermeulen