Be Strong and Courageous

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Previously on the chosen people. 00:00:03 Speaker 2: Now I will tell you what I told your new leader Joshua, so that you may all be encouraged and take heart. 00:00:13 Speaker 3: Your own eyes have seen everything the Lord your God has done to these two Amorite kings. 00:00:20 Speaker 2: The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms you are about to enter. Do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God fights for you. Now tell me, do you believe it? 00:00:33 Speaker 1: The crowd erupted in cheers. After such a recounting of their history, Israel was stirred and determined. It took them several moments to settle down before Moses could continue. 00:00:49 Speaker 4: This is the lad I promised Abraham, I seek and Jacob and I will fulfill that promise by giving it to your people. You'll descend of my servant Abraham. 00:01:02 Speaker 1: Moses dropped to his knees and bowed low before the Lord. Breathless, he struggled to express his gratitude of being granted access to this invigorating vision. 00:01:15 Speaker 2: I have met a loss for words. 00:01:18 Speaker 5: Thank you, thank you, regret. 00:01:22 Speaker 1: Me this remis Moses felt the Lord's compassionate and merciful acknowledgment. He then gently spoke again to this servant I have known. 00:01:33 Speaker 4: Let you see it with your own eyes, and you know you will not cross him to it. I have also appointed Joshua, or son of Lone, to lead my people in your stern. I have placed some of your authority on him, so that my people will obey him. I have even filled him with my spirit of wisdom. I have delivered my Lord to my people, and my priests are teaching them my ways. Might ask for you is now complete. Come now rest with your fathers, and come to be with me for it as well as you belong. 00:02:15 Speaker 1: He released his grip on life and fell into the loving embrace of the God who had called him by name a lifetime ago. 00:02:26 Speaker 3: That's all any of us could do. 00:02:28 Speaker 2: Be faithful to what's in front of us without the guarantee of what is to come next. 00:02:37 Speaker 6: Click the link of the description to grow closer to God. There you'll find daily prayers, Bible plans, sleep stories, and so much more, all on the prey dot com app. Click the link of the description to get started. 00:02:52 Speaker 1: Joshua and Caleb let the fire burn down to crackling embers as the first rays of the sunrise warmed their faith and chased away the chill from the night. They had both fallen into an awed silence. As the sun steadily illuminated the sky. It was as if the light was marking the significance of this strange changing of the guard. The sun set on Moses, and now here it was rising on Joshua. A nagging sense of duty was crouching in the back of Joshua's mind. Once he returned to camp, there would be half a dozen things to do and get into order, but he wasn't quite ready to leave this moment, not yet. Caleb sensed Joshua's reluctance, rekindled the embers in the fire with the end of a stick, and struck up a new conversation to ease Joshua's restless mind. 00:03:50 Speaker 5: I remember the day, Maia, my father died. Surprisingly considering it was well over sixty years ago when he died, I as about the age you wore when when we met. 00:04:08 Speaker 1: Joshua gave Caleb a sidelong look. He had a feeling he knew where Caleb was headed with this. 00:04:14 Speaker 2: This doesn't feel anything like that. I barely knew my father. I was raised by my siblings more than I was him. 00:04:21 Speaker 5: And by Moses most of all. 00:04:24 Speaker 1: Joshua couldn't help but smile at that. 00:04:27 Speaker 2: Yes, by Moses most of all. 00:04:29 Speaker 1: Caleb let that sentiment linger for a moment before he continued, never looking away from the glowing embers of the resurrected fire. 00:04:38 Speaker 5: Jeff and Ney, there can site. My father preferred the styling of his chosen name over our tribe name. He was a stubborn old goat. 00:04:52 Speaker 1: Joshua nodded and wondered where this was going. Caleb did not often talk about his ancestry. The kennesides Sa inhabited the land of Canaan at the time of Abraham, long before Israel was ever enslaved in Egypt. As far as Joshua knew, they had either died out or assimilated entirely into other nations. 00:05:13 Speaker 5: When I was young, all I wanted to be known as was a tribe of Judah Man anything to be liked, to be accepted. Are the men whose lineages were more purer than mine. 00:05:31 Speaker 2: But you are liked. I can't think of anyone more beloved than you, Caleb. 00:05:36 Speaker 1: Caleb leaned his shoulder into Joshua's playfully and rolled his eyes. 00:05:42 Speaker 5: Yes, but what I'm saying is that it was all by design. I worked hard for my position. But what I came to learn as I grew into a man was why my father held on to our ancestral heritage. He didn't want us to forget where we came from, and, more importantly, the choice we made. He wanted people to remember how his people chose the God of Abraham. What I perceived in my youth to be my father's clinging to the glory of some distant, irrelevant heritage was actually a reminder of the power of choice. We choose our families and our faith, and its faith that truly defines us. Your lineage, your past doesn't shape you as much as your faith does. Moses chose you, Joshua, the mighty and faithful. Moses recognized the mighty faith in you. Moses, who was a prophet of the Lord we will never see the likes of again. A man who spoke to the Lord is one what a friend hm hm, The performer of signs and wonders of our God in Egypt and in the wilderness. 00:07:23 Speaker 3: All that, all that, and he was not. 00:07:30 Speaker 5: The man chosen by God to lead us into the promised land. 00:07:37 Speaker 2: You are no pressure, right, Haha. 00:07:42 Speaker 5: No, there's definitely pressure. Ha. The mountain's worth of pressure is on your shoulders, my friend. I I don't envy you. But such was the way of Abraham when he venture from his father's home. Such was the weight of Jacob when he wrestled with his destiny. To be chosen is to choose. So let me. Let me ask you, Joshua. God chose you, Moses chose you. But what will you choose? 00:08:24 Speaker 1: Joshua could not deny the lingering doubts lurking in the corners of his heart and in the pit of his stomach. He carefully selected one of them and quietly confessed it to his friend. 00:08:36 Speaker 2: Did you know I've never actually heard from God. I've been around people who have Moses, Aaron, the elders who prophesied. I believe God has chosen me. I feel his presence, I sense his wisdom, and I I trust Moses. But how can I possibly live up to a man who could speak to God faced face? 00:08:59 Speaker 1: And finally he came to it the heart of his fear, how long will. 00:09:03 Speaker 2: It take the people to repel against me? 00:09:06 Speaker 1: Caleb nodded, in understanding he was the only other person in the world who understood the utter devastation and defeat of Israel's rebellions outside of the Lord himself. Caleb sighed and gave him an honest answer. 00:09:22 Speaker 5: Ah, I suppose that's a question neither of us can answer the people, and the people alone will choose whether or not they will have faith. 00:09:32 Speaker 1: Joshua nodded. He recognized the truth in Caleb's words and knew it to be true from within his own heart as well, but he had secretly hoped to hear something more encouraging, some sort of guarantee of the people's faithfulness. 00:09:47 Speaker 5: Well, I suppose we should head back to camp. Otherwise, there sound of my grumbling stomach will drown out any hope of further conversation. 00:09:58 Speaker 1: Both men chuckled at that, as Caleb stood and kicked sand into the modest fire bit to douse the flames. 00:10:05 Speaker 2: Go ahead, I'm going to stay out just a bit longer. 00:10:08 Speaker 1: Caleb nodded and gave Joshua's shoulder a gentle squeeze before he gathered up the blanket he had brought and headed back toward camp. Joshua watched him go, but then turned instinctively toward the river bank, a crisp breeze pushed urgently against his back, causing him to shiver. He looked back toward camp again. Perhaps he should not have let Caleb take that blanket with him. The breeze came again, pushing his face back toward the river. It was as if it was urging him to walk in its direction, As if in response, the breeze came again, more forcefully than the first two times, and it snatched at his cloak and rustled his hair. Joshua stood and stepped forward. The breeze practically sang in response. Its urgency was almost eager and jubilant. Joshua couldn't help but smile at its insistent prompting. Confidence and excitement steadily built in him as he moved toward the Jordan River. Joshua arrived at the river's edge, and the breeze seemed to cut out entirely. The world around him. Stilled, he looked around, wondering if something had happened to his hearing the churning, coursing river still rushed by, but was somehow muted. The chorus of birds and insects at the water's edge was suddenly silenced then he heard it, Joshua, a voice that rushed into Joshua's mind like the coursing river, the Alohim, the creator of the heavens and the earth. His voice came from nowhere and everywhere inside Joshua's mind and reverberated in his very bones. Joshua fell to his knees and bowed before his God, or struck and amazed by the all consuming, audible voice surrounding him. 00:12:05 Speaker 4: Joshua, my appointed leader, Moses, my servant is dead. 00:12:14 Speaker 1: Joshua's throat became thick and his eyes moistened as he pressed his forehead further into the cool grass on the river bank. A warm, comforting breeze rushed to meet him where he was kneeling, slightly, easing his crushing grief. 00:12:29 Speaker 4: Now, you and all the people were prepare to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving you. Look up, Joshua, see the land before you across the river. 00:12:45 Speaker 1: Joshua obeyed the Lord, tears still brimming as he blinked them away to see the land before him. The rising sun cascaded over the plains, revealing the lush vegetation and distant palm trees by have given you every place where the soul of your foot will tread. Just as I promised Moses, no one will stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave. 00:13:17 Speaker 2: You nor abandon you. 00:13:20 Speaker 1: This was the assurance Joshua had been seeking. The stark isolation that accompanied the burden of leadership. The mantle Moses bore for so long, was perhaps Joshua's greatest fear. As if sensing his thoughts, the Lord continued, to be strong. 00:13:40 Speaker 4: And courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their ancestors and give to them as an inheritance. Above all, be strong and very courageous. To observe carefully the whole instruction, my servant, Moses commanded. You do not turn from it to the left or the right, so that you will have success wherever you go. This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth. You are to meditate on it day and night, to carefully observe everything written in it, For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do. 00:14:23 Speaker 1: Joshua nodded and whispered the hushed confirmation of Moses last words to the crowds gathered around the tabernacle. 00:14:31 Speaker 2: Yes, with all heart, soul and strength, these are the words to be on our hearts. 00:14:37 Speaker 1: The breeze again swept up and surrounded him, Infectious and energizing. He continued to remember Moses words, when. 00:14:46 Speaker 2: We walk along the road, lie down and get up. 00:14:49 Speaker 1: There was so much to remind the people of such a legacy to uphold, so much to hold them accountable to without their integrity, they would show he failed unbidden. The list of things Joshua would need to do when he returned sprang into his mind. So much to do, so much to be to these people when he returned. But the Lord again responded to Joshua's mounting fears. 00:15:16 Speaker 4: Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged, For the Lord, your God is with you wherever you go. 00:15:29 Speaker 2: Rakshas at Amas, be strong and grageous. 00:15:33 Speaker 1: With that, the chatter in Joshua's anxious, racing thoughts ceased. The voice that felt everywhere and all consuming seemed to diminish, but settle in the back of Joshua's mind. He found it strangely comforting. It was different than the wisdom and authority, feeling that Moses had transferred to him instead. This was a peaceful presence that reassured him that he was not alone. Joshua returned to camp with a renewed sense of purpose. Though all of Israel mourned for Moses for thirty days, the beckoning call beyond the Jordan River was not forgotten. They were on the edge of what Moses had prepared them for all their lives. They had been forged in wandering the wilderness, and now their destiny lay before them. When the thirty days of mourning came to pass, the pangs of grief for Moses were still there, but the words of his God gave Joshua the strength he needed to rally the people and prepare them for this next stage of their journey. He gathered all of Israel to hear and bear witness to his instructions to the elders and officers Israel. 00:16:52 Speaker 2: Within three days time, we will cross the Jordan River. Together, we will take. 00:16:57 Speaker 7: Possession of the land the Lord your God is giving to you to inherit. 00:17:02 Speaker 1: The crowd let up a mighty cheer at that they were ready. Joshua scanned the crowd and found who he was looking for immediately, the representatives of tribes Reuben and God, Nemuel and Abbemayel. Here on the brink of the start of their conquest. He reminded them before all of Israel their promises made to Moses. 00:17:26 Speaker 2: Remember what Moses the Lord Servant commanded you when he granted you this land east of Jordan as your inheritives. You will go out before our armies and fight for your brothers, and the entirety of the promised land is ours. You may return here to take up your possession. Do you remember your promise was your honor your oaths? 00:17:47 Speaker 1: The younger clan leader and the older stood tall and proud before their brothers and answered their leader, Yes, we are with. 00:17:55 Speaker 2: You, Joshua, just as we were with Moses. 00:17:58 Speaker 1: The Lord your God will be with you as he was with Moses. Joshua nodded at the men and then turned his attention back to the masses. 00:18:06 Speaker 7: For all of you, for all of Israel, will you honor the promise you've made before our God? 00:18:14 Speaker 2: Will you love. 00:18:14 Speaker 7: Him, obey him, and remain faithful to him always? 00:18:19 Speaker 1: The crowd shouted in the affirmative. 00:18:21 Speaker 2: Then you are ready for Our God is with us. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. 00:18:28 Speaker 7: I tell you again, the Lord, our God is with us. Remember above all, be straw and courageous. 00:18:43 Speaker 6: If today's reading moved you, the Pray dot Com app is where you can go deeper with daily prayers, Bible plans, and more. Download it free link in the description. 00:18:53 Speaker 1: This Pray dot Com production is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Tina, Max Bard, Zach Shellabarger and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of the Chosen People. Narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvado, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwold, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and Mitch Leshinsky. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Aaron Salvato, bre Rosalie and Chris Baig. You can hear more Prey dot com productions on the Prey dot Com app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. If you enjoyed The Chosen People, please rate and leave a review.