BitterSweetLife

"Strength and Courage—Now Do It"



Last week’s “assignment” was to read the book of Joshua twice through, daring the Palestinian warrior to emerge in all his gory glory. He did—but his glory turned out not to be his at all.

It all started because Moses died. Moses was a legend, and therefore very hard to replace. As his heir apparent, Joshua’s position was unenviable. It’s no wonder that God needed to pull him aside for a talking to.

In the course of one transformative conversation, God urged Joshua three times to “be strong and courageous.” Strength and courage, strength and courage—the words began haunting Joshua then and there. Years later, if you asked him a question when he was leaning on his spear haft, dozing, he would rap out “Strength and courage” without fully waking up.

But at first, Joshua had to direct his energies toward persuading the Israelite people that he was their new head man. “Ok,” they told him. “But one thing: you’ve got to be strong and courageous.”

It was not the most auspicious beginning, but no one second-guessed Joshua’s grit down the road. His leadership potential had been, apparently, latent. Perhaps he was one of those formidable but unassuming types (like Viggo Mortensen in the first LOTR film). Whatever the case, God headed off Joshua’s tendencies to soft-sell the hard, cold issues confronting him. And the man’s fiery core blazed up and overawed an entire nation.

When all was said and done, no one made any bones about Joshua’s strength and courage. Israel decided he’d pretty much upheld the Mosean legacy, and everyone felt a sense of awe when Joshua came in view. His religious feelings were so, well, intense. And the man carried himself with an assured freedom. The more casual Israelite worshippers felt like he might put a spear through their throats if they so much as mumbled about skipping out on tabernacle services. Joshua’s views on God were so rigid.

This made for some uncomfortable conversations over coffee, but in the end, most all of Israel longed for a empowering speaking relationship with God—like Joshua’s.

And all this from a man whom Yahweh had prodded forward with the twin goads of “strength and courage.” Joshua radiated pure dynamism, but the glory wasn’t his. It never was. It never is.