This is my command – be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9 NLT
Throughout the day I tend to consult news websites on my phone or when home, flick on one of the numerous 24-hour news channels. News media is primarily pessimistic. There are few voices platformed that speak of life’s positive opportunities amid the chaos of climate change, innumerable wars with the mass displacement of people and the horrors of drought, disease and famine. Even domestic news paints a picture that awakens fresh fears within the human heart confronted with ageing and decline.
The challenge left to Joshua by Moses was daunting. God’s original intention of entering the Promised Land, as yet unfulfilled, was now his commission. God’s only words of advice were to be courageous and faith-filled. More than three millennia later, the advice is no different. All we have to meet the challenge of tomorrow is faith built upon our confidence in God. This is the seed for our optimism, the victory of hope over despair. Maintaining such optimism in the face of both reality and the fears that so easily assault our minds is itself difficult.
Joshua was experienced in battle but God didn’t talk with him about the skills he might need to rely on. God’s preparation was to remind him of who he was in relation to God. The emphasis was on his need for God and God’s promise to be present with him. Entry into the Promised Land wasn’t plain sailing. Joshua had to make adjustments due to circumstance and he made mistakes. However, he consistently returned to God and practised the wisdom entrusted to him on the eve of the crossing of the Jordan.
One reason I’ve deliberately reduced my newsfeed is because it often misdirects me and I lose sight of God. It fills my heart with pessimism, I lose my sense of God’s perspective and all too easily miss my way.
QUESTION
Are you feeling optimistic as you face the future?
PRAYER
God of all hope, may my eyes remain on you, the “author and finisher” of my faith (Hebrews 12:2, NKJV). Thank you for your promise to stay with me, always.
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