Have the Courage to Overcome Excuses

by Timothy Howe

Last week I spoke about accepting God's plan for your life. This week I want to reflect on the practical side of doing so. It all starts with courage. 


In Joshua 1:6, God tells Joshua: 
Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.


The Lord will repeat these words "be strong and courageous" two more times immediately following this passage. Why did he utter this command to His servant Joshua? Well, consider the immensity of Joshua' task. 


Joshua had to replace a very popular leader.
Joshua receives these instructions upon taking over leadership from Moses. Wow, can you imagine the precedent that Moses had set. Moses, the one who freed the slaves, who talked with God, who received God's commandments, who parted waters, defeated enemies and who guided a vast people for over a generation. It would be easy to be queasy if we were in Joshua's shoes. But remember, Joshua had walked along side Moses. He assisted Moses in many of those tasks. The Lord had chosen Joshua because of His faithfulness and the Lord would be with him in difficult times.  


Joshua had to lead a less than perfect people. 
What makes a great championship sports team? Is the players or is it the coach? Certainly it is both. Yet, a great coach cannot win without good players. This explains why even the greatest coaches can be fired. Joshua had a team of complainers, of people who had a legacy of slavery, failure and fear. These are the children of the very people who rejected Joshua's leadership 40 years prior when he and Caleb called the people to take the Promised Land the first time. This is not who a good leader would have asked for in conquering a new land. Yet, it is who God called Joshua to lead.  


Joshua had huge obstacles standing before him.
Joshua had the job of moving a large group of people into a new land that was already in the possession of other people. What a daunting task! The logistics alone would take an army of coordinators. They had to consider how to feed all these people, they had to cross a river without modern engineering technologies, they had to prepare an army to fight an entrenched people, and throughout all this they continued to maintain the tabernacle practices God had instituted under Moses.


Joshua had easy excuses to fail. 
Where Moses was raised to be a king in Pharoah's house, Joshua was raised to be a slave. Joshua could have remained bitter over Israel's previous rejection of his leadership. Joshua was around 80 years old when he took charge of Israel. He could have felt his best days were behind him, and let someone else take the reins. For these reasons, God encouraged Joshua to overcome any potential fears and to have the courage to accomplish what He had in store. Even though Joshua had reasonable excuses for failure, he ignored them and lived out the courage God commanded. 

What obstacles do you need to overcome to accomplish what God has in store for you this week? this month? this year? 


What excuses do you need to overcome to accomplish what God has in store for you this week? this month? this year?


This week we will be looking at having the courage to overcome one of the chief obstacles - fear. 


We will also have a guest blogger join us - Tristine Fleming who has her own daily blog that you will want to check out - NOTE TO SELF: Daily Reminders from God. I will be a guest blogger on her blog this week as well.