After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant: ‘Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the River Jordan into the land I am about to give to them – to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates – all the Hittite country – to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No-one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. ‘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 1:1-9 NIVUK
Without doubt, particularly if you're from the UK, China or Romania, one of the most incredible sporting events of 2021 was the historic victory for Emma Raducanu in the tennis US Open. What made it more spectacular, apart from the fact that she was eighteen years old and playing in only her second Major tournament, was the fact that she made it through qualifying to get there. While her fellow finalist played six games to reach the final, Emma played ten.
When journalists asked her how she did it, she was quite humble and open: she'd just focused on each point and saw where it would take her. If the point went well, great. Then she'd move on. If it didn't, okay, but she'd still move on.
This laser-like focus on one thing and the complete separation of points along the way - not letting a bad point affect the next point - is what separates winners from losers. It breeds resiliency. It makes us strong. That ability to reset and go again is essential.
But how can we do it?
Joshua was not a psychologist or a counsellor. Far from it. He was a military man. And yet these few verses give us tremendous guidance on how we can be more concentrated and focussed and 'in the moment'.
But first we have to appreciate the context. Moses had led Israel for forty years. He had been eighty years old when he'd taken on the mantle of leadership. He was a hundred and twenty when he finally laid it down (Deuteronomy 34:7). Forty years is a long time. Forty years leading a ragtag nation of misfits and ne'erdowells across a desert and watching person after person drop dead in the sand, while dealing with leadership challenges from would-be usurpers (including his own brother and sister), and tolerating constant whinges and complaints? It must have felt like an eternity.
But now Moses, the greatest leader Israel had ever known, was dead. A period of mourning was required. They mourned for him for thirty days.
They could have spent more time in mourning. The Egyptians mourned for Jacob for seventy days when he died, and they didn't know him quite so well (Genesis 50:2-3). So what stopped them?
It isn't a case of 'what', it's a case of 'who'. In God's first recorded words directly to Joshua, we see this:
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant: ‘Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the River Jordan into the land I am about to give to them – to the Israelites.
Joshua 1:1-2 NIVUK
Do you see it? God Himself stopped the mourning. God Himself looked at the grieving and the weeping and the sharing of anecdotes and said, "That's enough. It's time to move on now."
And that's a powerful thing. Often grief counsellors will recommend that we take our own time to come to terms with our loss, and I'm not saying that's the wrong thing to do. However, there are times when life does not afford us this luxury - when the next moment comes along, whether we like it or not; when wallowing in our sadness will do much more harm than good.
New Year is one of those times. On Saturday, 2021 will be gone. Whether it was a good year or a bad year for us makes no difference at all. It was here. It will be no more. We do not have an option to either mourn or celebrate its passing for too long. The clock will strike midnight. It will be over.
So what do we do now? In which direction do we go?
That is the question Joshua had to answer. Or rather, God answered for Him. God told Joshua that it was his time now. All those years living in the Tent of Meeting, spent assisting Moses - it was all leading up to this. Moses had gone. It was up to Joshua to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land.
And it was not as if Joshua was going in blind. Forty years previously, he and Caleb had been among the spies who'd reported back on the Promised Land (Numbers 3:6-9). It wasn't as if the situation had changed much those past forty years. He knew what was there.
That might be why we see God telling Joshua to not be afraid, to be strong and courageous, three times, and then why the people take up the refrain and echo the call. What lay in front of Joshua would intimidate anyone. He was being asked to take the Israelites, who had won just one battle before then (in which Joshua had played his part - Exodus 17:8-16) and at this point in time would have been emotionally and physically weakened by thirty days of mourning, into the Promised Land. They were being asked to battle against armies that were bigger, stronger and more experienced than them, and also had the advantage of living in fortified cities. On paper, this might seem to be a complete mismatch. If Joshua was intimidated by this, we could understand it completely.
Yet he isn't. And when we look at these three times when God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous, we see three pieces of advice for things we should focus on in the year to come.
The first of these is that we should FOCUS ON LEADING.
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