Be strong and courageous

It’s tough to turn the page.

Especially when turning the page means turning your back on something or someone you’ve loved and counted on for a long, long time. Let’s face it…the status quo is pretty attractive. The comfort zone is called a “comfort zone” for a reason. And it takes a lot of strength and courage to take the big bold steps necessary for real and lasting change.

That’s why in the very same chapter that God told Joshua that Moses is dead, He also tells Joshua three separate times, “Be strong and courageous!”

• Be strong: Inertia (the tendency of a body at rest to stay at rest) is a powerful physical force. It takes a tremendous amount of strength to change a habit or start a new one. If you imagine a wheel following a rut in a dirt road. It takes far more energy for the wheel to climb out, and stay out of the rut than it does to simply stay in and follow the rut. Make sense? If you really do want to climb out of the rut, to turn the page and make a change, don’t fool yourself. It will be hard and you will need Godly strength to pull it off.
• Be courageous: When you decide to change, to step into your destiny it’s like crawling through a cave. Imagine crawling through the tiniest of spaces. This is your life. It’s small but familiar. You have your reference points. You know where you are. But let’s say that at the end of the crawl space the cave opens up into a massive “room” underground. Now you are in a much bigger space, which is good but it can also be very scary because all of those familiar things from the smaller space are now gone. Your points of reference have all changed. Sometimes unlimited possibilities can be a very scary proposition. You’ll need to have Godly courage to turn the page. The unfamiliar can be unsettling. The status quo can be boring but you can also count on boring. Boring is predictable. It takes courage to step out into the unknown.

God knew these things. That’s why He told His newly appointed man that he should be strong and courageous. And I’m reminding you of those same things now. Yes, you should turn the page. And yes, you’ll need to look to the Lord for the strength and courage to follow through.