7 day plan

Trusting God in difficult times

Day 4 of 7

NIV

Joshua 1:9

9Have 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.”

Reflection:  Trust is easy when things and circumstances are easy, but it gets exponentially harder the tougher and more uncomfortable things become.

Trusting in and through difficult or uncomfortable circumstances takes strength and courage, but for believers it’s not an optional extra – it’s an imperative – a commandment no less.

The reality is that trust is not about the worst not happening, it’s about trusting that God will be with us still, even if the worst does come to pass.  It is about trusting that no matter what, God is sovereign, that we will believe in his inherent goodness, regardless if good or bad happens to us.

Author Ann Voskamp writes:

Perhaps the opposite of faith is not doubt.  Perhaps the opposite of faith is fear.  To lack faith perhaps isn’t as much an intellectual disbelief in the existence of God as fear and distrust that there is a good God.

That’s a really tricky thing to truly grasp – that God is good even if something bad happens to me, even if the thing I’ve prayed won’t happen does happen; even if the thing I’ve prayed for doesn’t come to pass.

Question: Do you believe that God is good even when bad things happen to you or to those you love?  Do you believe that God is faithful when the thing you’ve been praying for (often for years) doesn’t come to pass?

Prayer:  I do believe, Lord; but help me overcome my unbelief!  Be merciful to me and hear my prayer.  And while I wait for you or your answer, be with me I pray.  Amen.

Days

Joshua 1:1-18

Joshua Installed as Leader

1After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2“Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4Your 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. 5No 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. 6Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

7“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. 8Keep 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. 9Have 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.”

10So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: 11“Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.’ ”

12But to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, 13“Remember the command that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you after he said, ‘The Lord your God will give you rest by giving you this land.’ 14Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, ready for battle, must cross over ahead of your fellow Israelites. You are to help them 15until the Lord gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land the Lord your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

16Then they answered Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses. 18Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!”