Welcome to Joshua! The first book in my Bible-reading project with a name I may consider giving my kid. (Sorry Leviticus!) Let me just start by saying I am a huge wimp. Wimpy wimpy wimpy. Here are a few things I'm scared of:
~Mice (I can barely even type it.)
~Getting the mail (Anything could be in that little box!)
~Traveling with a baby (People get so crabby about babies on planes!)
~Parking garages (Obviously.)
~Scary movies or movie trailers. Or scary books. Or scary urban legends. Or someone alluding to a scary story. You get the point.
~Narrow staircases. (They're so... narrow!!)
~Running out of Diet Coke (Just kidding. But seriously.)
So I feel like God is grabbing my shoulders, squaring me up, and looking me straight in the eyes when he says (four times in the first short chapter of Joshua!), "Be strong and courageous..." Truly, these people, especially Joshua, must have had God-infused bravery to do what they're doing. And Rahab! Her bravery won her a spot as one of Jesus' great-grandmothers. A prostitute! As an ancestor of Jesus! I love God so much for giving us that little miracle.
I heard once that the most frequent command in the Bible is, "Fear not." God is so darling to repeat that over and over for us. He just understands how human we are and that we have these fears- rational and irrational. For those of us less brave than Rahab, He knows we need to hear over and over and over again things like, "Fear not." "Do not be afraid." And, as seen in Joshua, Chapter 1: "Be strong and very courageous."
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