Q2. God's Promise

[Haar Garba]

Q2. (Joshua 1:5b) Why is God’s promise to be always with Joshua so important to him? Why is this promise so important to you in your present situation? If God is with you, what limitations do you have?

This will encourage and make him bold enough to move on and lead the people to take possession of the promised land.

It is important to me at each point to know that God is with me, this will give me hope in spite of all the challenges on the way.

the only limitation will be my inability to move on with him

 

 

[Lissette Trahan]

Joshua 1:5 "There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, [so] I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

This is a reassurance from God that He would be with them in battle. He would go before them and destroy their enemies.  God never left them for the 40 years. He did not leave when Moses died. These are God's people, and He will protect them. The promise made to Abraham, Moses, Joshua and us is the same.

When God first revealed Himself to me it was so unexpected that for a moment I doubted. Then I realized what had happened. I got on my knees crying and  asking God to forgive me for my unbelief. I did not hear a voice but the words were there. "I am with you always". At the time I did not know that those words were in the bible.  

I tell anyone that will listen "If you seek Him, you will find Him".

[PrayingMan]

Q2. (Joshua 1:5b) Why is God’s promise to be always with Joshua so important to him? Why is this promise so important to you in your present situation? If God is with you, what limitations do you have?

Joshua had now become the leader, following in the footsteps of Moses.  Joshua had been with Moses from the beginning and also one of the spies that had been faithful and had tried to convince the Israelites 40 years earlier to enter the promised land.  Now, Joshua was leading a people, whom, the greatest leader of Israel, Moses had been unable to accomplish.  Joshua knew that if Moses couldn't get the people there, neither could he  . .  unless God were with him.  Joshua knew that his faith was not in himself or positive thinking or anything else. It was rooted and firmly established in God alone.

As a pastor of a church, it is also humbling to lead a congregation.  I am in the same place Joshua is. I cannot lead alone.  Alone, I am too inadequate, too imperfect, too weak.  But with God's presence with me, I can go where He leads.  But my trust has to be constant as I find myself over my head often and need God's provision and leadership to continue forward.

[Oarabile Zhikhwa]

Q2. (Joshua 1:5b) Why is God's promise to be always with Joshua so important to him? Why is this promise so important to you in your present situation? If God is with you, what limitations do you have?

The promise is so important because Joshua was entering into a new assignment in a foreign land which had well established inhabitants with strong security. It was therefore important for God to assure him of his support.

This promise is so important to me because I am inherently sinful and therefore the new life which God calls me to is different from what I am used to. I need all the support from God my sender because he understands the mission and the challenges ahead.

The fact that God is with me settles my mind because I already know hi capabilities and that he is the one holding the universe together by his Son. He has done it with Joshua and he will do it again.

[charisbarak]

It is a fearsome responsibility to move and direct a huge group of families--complaining families.

As we age, we find bodies falling apart and it can be scary..

If God is with me---NO Limitations!

[Anstey Jeremiah]

I'm taking it that the him is Joshua and not God.

God's promise to Joshua is important because Joshua understands two things; he doesn't know everything about God and he knows he is flesh and flesh is weak even though the Spirit is willing. Joshua being Moses' assistant for some time would understand how unbelief in the people can turn ugly, how easy it was for Moses to err (Meribah), thus how easy it is to misunderstand God's instructions. But more than ever Gods promises ensure that whatever he does to whatever the people does god will accept or bring him back on track. It also gives him the confidence to accept Gods instructions even if they do not make sense or the conditions to the instructions doesn't seem right.

when I look back at my life Isee the things that I have achieved that may have been off-limits to me and I have concluded that God has been with me all along, now that I am in Christ, I trust  all His Statutes , tenets and doctrines and is using his promise to follow them in earnest, I can achieve nothing, Iam nothing without Him. His word keeps me vigilant to any thing that is not pleasing to him.

[JSF]

Q2. (Joshua 1:5b) Why is God’s promise to be always with Joshua so important to him? Why is this promise so important to you in your present situation? If God is with you, what limitations do you have?

Joshua was only one man and had an enormous leadership responsibility.  He knew he could not fulfill that without God.   I cannot fulfill my roles well without God in me.   I will still have the limitations of a sinful nature and a sinful self, but when I let Him be my strength, He can work through even me.

[aliya721]

On 6/10/2016 at 3:38 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q2. (Joshua 1:5b) Why is God’s promise to be always with Joshua so important to him? Why is this promise so important to you in your present situation? If God is with you, what limitations do you have?

 

It's important to Joshua because it is a guiding light, a beacon, a firm understanding that the Maker will never leave him. What reassurance when you are tasked with such  a responsibility! This is so for me, especially now. Joshua 1:9 is my life verse and hangs over my desk but this is basically the start. I am suffering with cluster headaches and the pain is unbearable. To know that the God of heaven sees me, walks with me and will never leave me is encouraging and something I can rely on. I trust Him. Everyone will fail but God will not. Even knowing this, I know that I can do nothing without Him. I need His strength. I am so weak and I am just me. He is God, all knowing, all everything and I must stand firm on this.

[Jilly]

Why is God’s promise to be always with Joshua so important to him?

Joshua is going to battle many kingdoms and needs God by his side for guidance, power and comfort.

Why is this promise so important to you in your present situation? 

God holds my hand in good and bad situations.  It is very comforting to me.

If God is with you, what limitations do you have?

First thought I have is physical limitations, but God helps with that also.

[Valteenia]

Joshua was confident that if God, Almight was with him then all was well.

It give me confident that no matter what I am facing that God will make  a way for me to endure and strengthen me.

We know that we can't do anything without God. He is an unlimited God and with all power. We believe in faith that we can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthen us.

[Bishop Paul Lekorana Matet]

On 6/10/2016 at 9:38 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q2. (Joshua 1:5b) Why is God’s promise to be always with Joshua so important to him? Why is this promise so important to you in your present situation? If God is with you, what limitations do you have?

 

This promise  is so important to me because it tells me that,I should not fear any circumstances whatever it might look or appear because Jehovah God is with me.Even if I do not feel His Presence but I know He is with Me and the only limitation is when i fail to believe this promise.

[Rosa]

Rosa, I am your God, the Lord God Almighty, and I am with you always in My Spirit who lives in you. We will never leave you or abandon you. Do not lean on your own understanding, but lean on Our Promise to you.

We will NEVER forsake you, abandon you, or leave you.

Just too big for words

[Irmela]

Q2. (Joshua 1:5b)

Why is God's promise to be always with Joshua so important to him?

Why is this promise so important to you in your present situation?

If God is with you, what limitations do you have?

JanMary what a beautiful testimony. God bless you for sharing it.

Joshua had a very big task to fulfill. Not only was he a husband and father, leader of one tribe but now he had been appointed as the leader of God's people, the Children of Israel, 12 tribes. They were definitely not an easy people to lead. they had proved to be a complaining lot, under the leadership of Moses.  Just to know that this leadership position was not on his shoulders alone, but that God, the Almighty One, had promised to be with him certainly made the load a lot easier.  Just knowing he was not alone was very important.

I certainly cannot cope without Him. He has proved to be faithful, through thick and thin, through loss, through pain and joy, through uncertainty. He sure has been there, and because of that I know that I can do all things, He has ascribed for me to do, through Him, Who strengthens me.

[Krissi]

This is a specific promise made to Joshua after the death of Moses. God encouraged Joshua by telling him that whatever He had done for Moses, He would do also for Joshua: “As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.” Since Moses had been led by God, then so would Joshua be led. In an earlier passage, God had already reassured Joshua that He would be treating him as He had treated Moses: “… just as I spoke to Moses.”

God is making it clear that Joshua is Moses’ successor.

The question I have regarding this verse is this: Can I assume that a promise given to an Israelite military leader more than 3000-3500 years ago at a crucial juncture in Israel’s history applies to me today?

Yes, I believe God is with me always. I believe this based on the witness of the entire Bible as well as “feel” it in my soul. But I don’t feel comfortable taking this verse as “proof”. I can learn about God from Joshua’s story, or at least how Joshua and God interacted, but will this be the same as how God interacts with me?

Are there times when God withdraws? 

Yes.

“They will go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord but will not find Him; He has withdrawn from them.”  Hosea 5.6

Many Christians have noticed that in their darkest of hours, when things seem desperate and bleak, God often feels far away. Only in retrospect do they see He was there. God pulls away from our hearts -- in my experience -- when He wants a Christian to grow spiritually in preparation for the next assignment. The times when God seems distant elicit from us a tough and stubborn assertion that God really is around, though there is no evidence of this in one's heart or circumstances. Faith persists when there is no reason/explanation for such sureness. It's not about my feelings or experience. It's about Him and what I rationally and coldly think of Him when my heart isn't following along. Thus, I believe God is with me even when my life is crumbling and He does not make Himself present to my consciousness.

--

Exodus 17 has a story of Moses striking a rock with a stick which caused water to flow out of it. Israelites had tested the Lord by asking Him, “Is the Lord with us or not?” They asked because they weren’t sure. They weren’t sure God was with them. They needed the miracle of water to be reassured. We have the Spirit within us and even when gagged and silent, that Spirit is there ... God is with us. We don't need or shouldn't require miracles as "proof."

This is an inadequate answer to Pastor Ralph's questions.