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Education Ministry

Posted on May 5, 2005 ...

It has to be tough to follow in the footsteps of greatness. No matter what you do, there will always be a comparison: “That’s not how so-and-so did it.” No matter how good you are, you simply cannot compete with the memory of a beloved predecessor. For as absence makes the heart grow fonder, it also makes a great person greater. No mortal could ever live up to the image that is created in the minds of his devotees after he is gone. As a hero passes from this world, he enters the realm of legend; and legend, by its very nature, accentuates heroic qualities and plays down human weakness and flaws.

It must have been daunting for Joshua to stand before the nation of Israel after the death of Moses. Consider the shoes he had to fill. Moses was brilliant, educated and trained by the greatest minds in Egypt. He was tough, overpowering an Egyptian soldier and eluding the manhunt that followed. He was resourceful, able to re-establish himself in a foreign land and secure a place in a prominent family in Midian. And these are just some of his natural attributes. Moses had found favor with the God of Israel. He spoke to God as a friend speaks to a friend. God enabled him to challenge Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the region, and he was the conduit through which God humiliated Egypt. He led Israel away from Egypt and its pursuing army and through the parted Red Sea. He was the link between God and Israel, bringing their petitions to God and God’s Law to the people. For forty years, Moses was leader, counselor, priest, prophet, judge, and father-figure to a nomadic nation of refugees. Can you imagine being told that you must finish the job Moses started forty years earlier?

As I read about this changing of the guard, I find a recurring counsel being offered to Joshua. Moses himself said it when he announced that Joshua would go before Israel into the Promised Land. The Lord said it when He commissioned Joshua to lead Israel into the Promised Land. And the Israelites repeated it back to Joshua after he assumed command. What counsel could be so important? What could be so crucial at this turning point in Israel’s history? A simple phrase: Be strong and courageous.

Strength and courage. These are the two qualities Moses, the Lord, and the people of Israel wanted in Joshua. Strength – not just brute force and toughness, but the ability to endure; the ability to complete the task. Certainly endurance and tenacity would be needed for the long journey ahead. And courage – the ability to conquer one’s fear; to overcome despair. Surely, courage would be necessary in order to face the challenges that waited on the other side of the Jordan River.

Of course, none of us are in line to succeed a Moses or Joshua. We have no nation to lead or land to conquer. Still, we have our own battles to fight; our own giants to kill. Do we dare engage life’s challenges without strength and courage? While we must look to the Lord for these characteristics, we must be willing to put them on. And we must be willing to have them tested on the battlefield. God has called us to be warriors, not wimps. Rise up, my brothers and sisters, and be very strong and courageous.