Pastor Slaughter
12-31-2021
New year’s Eve
Text: Joshua 1:6-9
Theme: How can we be strong and courageous in the New Year?
When I was at MLC and the Seminary, one of the most stressful times of the year was the first week of classes when you would get your syllabus. And as you begin putting that syllabus in your calendar, the stress level rises as you begin to wonder, “How am I ever going to get any of this done?” But after the year is done you look back and wonder how you were ever able to do all the things that you were originally stressing over.
If anybody ever told me at the beginning of the year not to stress out about the assignments or that it was not a big deal, I would get upset with them because it was almost like they were downplaying the amount of work that needed to be done and the time it would take to do it. As you prepare to begin a new year, and look ahead to what’s in store for you, do you feel the stresses begin to pile up by all things you want to being doing like staying healthy, exercising, seeing more of your family, doing more fun things, and trying to balance it all the things you have to be doing, taking care of the house, the kids, the different things at work, or the different responsibilities you have? Does the uncertainty of what the new year will bring cause you to be afraid and discouraged? And yet God tells us in our lesson, “Be strong and courageous.” Today we are going to ask ourselves, “How can we be strong and courageous in the new year?”
I wonder if Joshua asked himself that very question as God told him to be strong and courageous. The responsibility that was laid before Joshua was daunting and a bit frightening. He was the new leader of the nation of Israel at a crucial point in their history. They were seeing the Lord fulfill his promise that he made to Abraham to give them the land flowing with milk and honey. This was the transition from wandering in the desert, to having a land of their own. Not only was it a big transition but Joshua was following in the footsteps of one of the greatest leaders in Israel’s history, Moses. I wonder if he was a bit afraid that he could not be as good as a leader as Moses was. I wonder if Joshua was a bit discouraged as he looked back on Israelite history and saw all the problems the people gave Moses and wondered to himself if he would be equipped to handle those situations.
Do you think Joshua was a bit afraid as he looked ahead to the future and the battles he would lead the nation of Israel into? Do you think he may have felt at times discouraged as he looked backed on the past and thought about what he should and shouldn’t do? Don’t you think Joshua needed some encouragement as he began to lead the nation? That is precisely what God gives to him.
Not just once, not twice, but three times God encouraged Joshua saying, “Be strong and courageous.” Don’t we need to hear that encouragement every once and while as well? I think all of us at some point have felt the way Joshua did. When we look at the task before us and feel overwhelmed. Whether you are overwhelmed at school with all the assignments, tests, and grades, or overwhelmed with your new responsibility as a parent, a spouse, a caregiver. Overwhelmed with dealing with health concerns, or just overwhelmed with life. When we begin to feel overwhelmed and stressed don’t, we begin to feel afraid? Afraid that we won’t be good enough, afraid that we can’t handle our responsibilities. And isn’t it just showing that we are afraid of what tomorrow brings?
But even as we look to the past, we may begin to feel discouraged, discouraged by the events that took place, the mistakes that we made, unfulfilled exceptions like getting the grade we wanted, or that promotion.
God tells us during all those things to “Be strong and courageous.” In fact, he even commands it. What does it say about our trust in God if we are afraid and discouraged? Doesn’t it say that we don’t trust him to be with us during those difficult times? Doesn’t it say that we don’t think he can or will help us. Or maybe it’s not that we trust him but maybe it is simply that we forget his promises found in his Word.
How can we be strong and courageous when we face difficulty, hardship or when we feel the task too overwhelming? Be strong and courageous as I am battling cancer? Be strong and courageous as my loved one is suffering. Be strong and courageous as I face ______? How can we be strong and courageous and not feel afraid and discouraged?
God gives Joshua and us the secret to being strong and courageous, “Be strong and very courageous…Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so you may be careful to do everything written in it.” Did you catch that? Keep God’s Word on your lips, meditate on it day and night. We strive to do everything that is written in it. We keep God’s Word at the center of our lives.
Think about what happens when we keep God’s word as the center of our lives. When we begin to feel afraid by the troubles of this life, we have God’s Word on our lips and recite God’s Word his promises to us. When we feel discouraged, we meditate on his Word, studying his promises. The more time we spend in his word the more we want to live our lives according to it.
When we feel afraid and discouraged, I think we only are focusing on the present situation. But when we have God’s Word in our hearts, on our minds and our lips, the focus changes. It changes toward God’s promises he has made to us in the midst’s of those present problem.
Think about it. Joshua was given the impossible task of leading the nation of Israel to take the promise land. To conquer people that they never should have been able to, to lead a people that Moses struggled to lead. Yet all of this would have been impossible for him to do on his own if it were not for a promise that God made to him. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
When we face difficult situations in the upcoming year, we need to be in God’s Word and reminded of God’s Promises. We see how he has kept those promises throughout the centuries. Especially his Promise to be with us wherever we go. That is what we celebrated on Christmas! How God kept his promise and sent Jesus, The Immanuel, to be with us. How Jesus went to a cross to take care of the problem of sin, that once separated us from God. How Jesus rose so that we can be with him for all eternity.
How can we be strong and courageous in the new year? We remain in his word, we study, learn it, we hold on to it. As we do so we are reminded of all God’s promises to us. When we begin to doubt about whether or not God is with us. We turn to his Word and see all that he did to keep his promises for us. The Lord told Joshua that he would be with him wherever he went. He makes that same promise to us. At the end of Matthew he says, “And surely I am with you always until the end of the age.” Now I am going to show you a video That koine wrote for the youth rally. In it you will see and hear that beautiful gospel promise That God is with you, and you are never alone no matter what you face in the new year. Be strong and courageous because the Lord is with you!