The Weight of Leadership and the Strength of God’s Promises

What Joshua 1 Teaches Us About Leading with Faith, Not Fear

This will be my first summer leading the LMNT program here at SWO. The program is designed to help the young men and women who will be here for ten weeks to develop into leaders who can go home and have a significant Gospel impact on the communities that they are in. It’ll be a new season experiencing the weight of leadership, with new challenges, and an even greater dependence on the LORD.

I know that it will take hard work and intentionality in multiple areas to be a faithful leader to all twenty of those guys.

I would say sacrifice is involved in the leadership process, but I believe that we serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. So before we lead anyone there is first a surrender to the Lord and his will over our own. That surrender is not a sacrifice; it is an honor to serve him in all that we do. In preparation for the summer, I found myself reading through the first few verses of Joshua 1. I think it would be easy to look at these verses and assume that they are “cliche” or “overused”. However, I challenge you to one, look deeper into the meaning of the text, and also to remind yourself that this is the written Word of God. It is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

There is nothing cliche about it. There is never too much of the truth that God has chosen to bless us with.

Joshua is following in the steps of one of the greatest leaders in history, and to that point in time the only one that the people of Israel have ever known. In Exodus chapter 12 it tells us that there are 600,000 men who left Egypt, but that is excluding men and women. So it would be fair to say that there are a couple million people that Joshua is now beginning to lead into the promised land. That is more than enough of a reason to be overwhelmed by the impending pressure that is sure to come in the near future.

There are four commands that God gives to Joshua, and there are also four promises that accompany those commands.

4 Commands. 4 Promises.

The commands are to (according to the law that was given to him):

1. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left.
2. Meditate on it day and night and do not depart from it.
3. Be careful to do all that is written in it.
4. To be strong and very courageous.

The promises that follow are:

1. No man shall be able to stand before Joshua.
2. He will have good success wherever he goes (which can also be translated in the original language to “act wisely”).
3. His way will be prosperous.
4. He (God) will never leave or forsake Joshua, and he is with him wherever he goes.

God is not merely saying to Joshua to be courageous just for the sake of being brave. The reason that he can be strong is because the Lord is with him. All Joshua has to do is to surrender to the Lord, obey his Word, and never depart from it.

This is a great relief for the believer, knowing that the Lord is the one who establishes our steps. So whether it is the start of a new season in terms of leadership like myself, or whatever it is that you may be facing now. Like Joshua we can cling to the words of the Lord, and know that his grace is sufficient, and His power is made perfect in our weakness. This is the Word of the Lord.

“…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

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