Arriving for our flights back home, we joined the line at an empty check-in counter. A few minutes later an official appeared and told us to leave and come back in an hour. Airline employees were going on strike.

So began two long days of travel.

After several hours, the airline booked on a new itinerary the following day from a different airport. Then another long wait before we were put in a taxi and driven two and half hours to the next city. The airline arranged for a hotel (a fellow traveler dubbed it the Bates Motel), and provided a dinner consisting of a few frozen appetizers. We skipped and went downtown. My wife and I loaded into a taxi at 4 am the next morning to continue our journey. We landed in Denver and drove home in a blizzard. So much for the glamor of the jet age.

Sometimes the demands of life call for strength and courage, and in this case, patience and humor.

Facing a much more daunting situation, the Lord encouraged Joshua as he led the nation of Israel across the Jordan river and into their promised land:

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Notice the conditions bound with strength and courage—keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. From obedience to the words of God spring prosperity and success, strength and courage. Hold to the ways of the law, and the Lord will be with you wherever you go.

God grants strength and courage today, just as he did for Joshua and the people of Israel. But these attributes remain bound with our choice to follow His words. Or as another prophet put it, obedience is better than sacrifice.

Strength and courage come from the Lord, and we only know and understand his ways from the Scriptures. Become strong and very courageous by molding your life to the words of God.

Joshua 1 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by John McArthur