BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS!
Our BIBLE BOOST today comes from Joshua 1:9, “…be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
If you turn on the nightly news we are bombarded with so many stories and events that threaten our lives with fear, discouragement and outright attacks. The COVID pandemic! We hear of Islamic jihadists blowing up, tearing up and threatening our peace. We hear of reports of the“axis of evil with North Korea launching rockets, Iran developing tactical nuclear weapons, China blowing up satellites in space and of course Russia flexing her muscles by signing treaties with Iran, Syria, Cuba, and Venezuela.
On the home front, robberies, murders, kidnappings, bi-polar weather and of course the drug border wars.
As it seems our world is spinning out of control. Maybe even in your personal walk things seem to be discouraging and disappointing. Maybe you feel like the storm winds are ready to blow you over. I heard a story recently that should help us and calm our fears.
It seems that a farmer who owned land along the Atlantic seacoast, advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work farms along the Atlantic because of the dreadful and fierce storms that raged, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. Finally the farmer found a short, thin man well past middle age who applied for the job.
The farmer asked the applicant“Are you a good farm hand?”“Well”, he answered the old thin man, “I can sleep when the wind blows.” Although puzzled by the answer the farmer hired the man. He was a great worker. Busy from dawn till dusk and the farmer felt really satisfied with his work. Then one night the wind howled loudly from offshore with a fierce storm approaching. Jumping out of bed the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed to the door and over to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, “Get up! A storm is coming! Tie down things before they blow away.”The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, “No sir, I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.”
Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire the hired hand right on the spot. But instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all the haystacks were covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing would blow away. Then the farmer realized what the hired hand had meant. He understood. So he returned to bed to also sleep while the wind blew.
So, here’s the question for us today. How can we have peace when the storms of life are raging all around? How can we sleep when it seems the storms of life are blowing us over? Well, my friend, verse after verse from God’s word reassures us that He is in control. As we have heard so many times…..don’t ask for God to calm the storm in your life, rather ask God to calm our lives in the midst of the storm.
I believe when God tells us something one time that we should hear and obey. But when God tells us something 3 times we can count on it. Well, 3 times in Joshua 1:6 thru 9 that God tells Joshua to BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS. 3 TIMES. Do you why God told Joshua to be strong and courageous and basically to “sleep while the wind blows.”?
Because God said, “For I will be with you wherever you go”. No matter what is going on in your life hear the words of our Lord God.
YOUR BIBLE BOOST FOR TODAY, Joshua 1:9, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged. FOR THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL BE WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO.”
I am praying for you and your family.
Leonard Navarre
Lubbock, Texas
