We often imagine Joshua to be a young man when God commissioned him to take the people into the promised land. A quick mental calculation will reveal that he was much older than we have thought him to be. He would be approximately an elderly man of 80 plus years old at that point. His age plus his past experiences with the people of Israel would cause him to be somewhat apprehensive about succeeding Moses. It would take a unique personal encounter with God to pacify his fear and take away his jitters. Up to this time, the only person God had spoken to was Moses. Joshua only played a very secondary role. The situation was about to change. His confidence needed to be bolstered so God appeared to him and spoke to him just as he had spoken to Moses in the past.
The Lord began first by encouraging Joshua to take on the leadership. He assured him that the plan for them as a people to possess Canaan had not changed even though Moses was dead. Joshua should take the people across the Jordan into the promised land. It is interesting to note that the pronoun “you” in verse 3 is in the second person plural. This is to tell us that the promise that they would possess the land was not made to Joshua only but to all the people of Israel. The assurance of verses 3-4 was for the people as much as it was for Joshua. Take a moment and imagine the magnitude of the promise: “Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory.” Now take a moment and consider your own life. Remember the Lord Jesus’s words, that in possession, we ought to possess our life. It is God’s promised land to us. And age, physical or spiritual, is no barrier to us becoming an overcomer for God.
Then in verse 5, the Lord returned specifically to Joshua and promised Him that no one will be able to stand against him in the land. The people of Canaan would certainly not stand idly by and watch their land being taken. They would surely try to defend their land. However, the promise to Joshua was that none would be able to withstand what God was going to do through him. The Lord assured Joshua that he could count on His presence and assistance as he conquered the land. This was the Lord’s plan for Joshua long before this moment. During the wilderness journey, Moses called Joshua to him and in Deuteronomy 31:7-8 we have a record of what Moses said to him. He told him, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” So, the words of Joshua 1:5 is only a re-iteration of the promise made known to him earlier. Only this time it came from God personally and directly to Joshua.
It was impossible for Joshua to fail since the Lord would be with him in this expedition. The presence of God and his past would attest to it. In his tenure with Moses, Joshua had literally seen the countless times God had intervened and brought them success after success. God’s presence was a precious promise to Joshua and so it is to us too. The one experience most needed in any expedition in life is the presence of the Lord. Every person God had used in time past had His promised presence. In the same way that Joshua was to possess the promised land, God wants us to possess our life, His promised land to us. The total dominion of the promised land was God’s promise to Joshua, so the total control of our life is God’s promise to us. Like Joshua who needed the presence of God as he went about the conquest, so also will we need the presence of God as we seek to take hold of our life. Every resistance can be overcome when we have the presence of God. It is possible to experience the perpetual presence of God every moment in our life. What we need is to take time and be still before God and listen attentively to the clear words He will speak within our heart. So, take time to be still and know that He is God!
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