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New Article: Navigating the New Year

 

               As we begin another new year, I cannot help but think of Joshua.  Moses had been leading God’s people to the promised land.  However, just before they arrived, Moses died, and Joshua was put in charge.  Faced with the uncertainty of what was coming, God gave him the following advice.

               “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:6-9). 

               First, notice that God tells Joshua to choose his attitude ahead of time by telling him to be strong and courageous.  We do not always get to choose our circumstances, but we always get to choose how we go through them.  Moping and complaining never helps.  Choosing to face things with strength and courage was so important that God repeated this instruction three times in three verses.    

               Next, Joshua was told to remember and meditate on the promises of God.  Too often, we see the obstacles instead of the opportunities.  We predict what could go wrong rather than what could go right.  We think about how little we can do and forget how much God can do.  By telling Joshua to keep the word and the promises in his mind, God was directing him to train his thinking in a better way and to live with hope.

               Lastly, God reminds Joshua that “(I) will be with you wherever you go”.  It is easy to become discouraged when you think that you have no help, but that was not the case for Joshua, and it is never the case for Christians.  God is not only with us (Matthew 28:20), his spirit lives in us (1 Corinthians 6:19).  Regardless of what we are facing, we always have help.

               Joshua was successful, not because he was special, but because he served God and made that his focus.  As we go into this new year, may the same be said of us.

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