When You’ve Got a Tough Act to Follow

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Date: August 26, 2022

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Joshua 1:7

Following in another’s footsteps can definitely be difficult.

How would you like to have to step into the shoes of the leader who parted the Red Sea and had actually been in God’s presence? That was Joshua’s intimidating situation in the Old Testament.  Joshua’s story powerfully demonstrates that God can and will make you the person that He has planned for you to be.

Joshua had been Moses’ aide since his youth (Numbers 11:28), but the day came when he was the one: ‘The time has come for you to lead,’ God said (Joshua 1:2). Joshua’s life of following in Moses’ footsteps and following hard after God, give us three great insights into God’s leading in our own lives.

First, God’s call comes with God’s power and presence:  ‘No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life,’ he told Joshua.  ‘As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you or forsake you’ (Joshua 1:5).

God is your source of credibility and capability:  ‘Today,’ God assured Joshua, ‘I will begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites.  They will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses’ (Joshua 3:7).
God will faithfully provide what’s needed for the duration. ‘Be careful to obey all [My] instructions,’ God said, and ‘…the Lord made Joshua a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites, and for the rest of his life they revered him as much as they had revered Moses,’ Scripture records (Joshua 4:14).

If you say yes to God’s work in your life, His power, presence, and provision are sure.