Joshua 1

I admit that I'm not a rabid sports fan, but I do enjoy rooting for the local teams alongside friends and family. The San Francisco Giants currently have an odd (though certainly welcome) trend going on as they've won the World Series every other year since 2010. (Which means it's their turn to win again this year, which will perhaps assuage at least some of the sting of the last-minute collapses of the Sharks and the Warriors this year.)

In the 2012 World Series, the Giants swept the Detroit Tigers 4-0 to nag the pennant. Perhaps not very dramatic, but still a joy to watch at the time. In 2014, however, the Giants and the Kansas City Royals went back and forth for the first six games, with some outrageously lopsided scores on both sides. It all came down to nail-biting Game 7. The Giants took a one-run lead in the fourth inning and held on to that lead for the next five innings thanks to a transcendent performance from pitcher Madison Bumgarner. In hindsight, the 2014 series was much more dramatic and probably more interesting, but at the time, I'm sure many Giants fans wished that the team hadn't cut it quite so close.

Conflict, stress, and strife suck, but they make for engrossing stories. When was the last time you read a good book or saw a great movie where everyone got along and had no problems whatsoever? In Joshua, for the most part, events turn out in Israel's favor. Everything seems to go their way. Why? Because they--get this--actually obey God put their trust in Him.

In chapter 1, God and Joshua use some variant of "Be strong and courageous" no fewer than four times (verses 6, 7, 9, and 18). I don't know about you, but I respond much better to encouragement than to contemptuous ridicule. Of course, I also prefer constructive criticism to mindless Yes-Men--and God definitely does let His people know when they go astray. But note how the "strong and courageous" message travels from God down to Joshua and then to the Israelites, who in turn offer the encouragement back in verse 18. This creates a sense of mutual support, a mood of "we're all in this together," to use the current vernacular.

With this encouragement, the Israelites readily agree to obey God and Joshua; the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh say, "Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go" (verse 16). I need to have the same attitude toward God, allowing Him to take me where He wills. I find it all too easy to nestle complacently where I am, and yet if I am to grow in my faith, I will need to broaden my experiences. As for the Israelites, they are on the cusp of witnessing the wonders their faith will engender.