Deuteronomy 31:7 – Then Moses called for Joshua, and as all Israel watched, he said to him, “Be strong and courageous! For you will lead these people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors he would give them. You are the one who will divide it among them as their grants of land. 8Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

9 So Moses wrote this entire body of instruction in a book and gave it to the priests, who carried the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant, and to the elders of Israel. 10 Then Moses gave them this command: “At the end of every seventh year, the Year of Release, during the Festival of Shelters, 11 you must read this Book of Instruction to all the people of Israel when they assemble before the Lord your God at the place he chooses. 12 Call them all together—men, women, children, and the foreigners living in your towns—so they may hear this Book of Instruction and learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the terms of these instructions. 13 Do this so that your children who have not known these instructions will hear them and will learn to fear the Lord your God. Do this as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.” (NLT)

In this passage, Moses is handing over the reins of leadership to Joshua.  These people had never had any other leader than Moses. How could they come to trust another leader? They trusted God, and so they trusted God to provide leadership.  This should be a lesson for us. If the people of God are seeking God in truth and in spirit, God will provide godly leadership. Moses makes this clear in the verse which comes before our reading: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Because of our ‘modern sensibilities’ we might question how the Israelites dealt with the  people of the promised land. However, for us in our day and time, we, too, must deal with people – daily!  Because we have the whole story of God, we deal with people differently, but certainly we must trust God so that we can deal with all people as God desires.

Notice in verse 8, Moses charges Joshua not to be afraid or discouraged.  These two go hand in hand.  Discouragement always follows fear, for fear holds us back from being all that God desires.  When we live life being less than God desires, discouragement soon sets in.  Fear of facing today causes our discouragement of tomorrow.  Let us trust God for today and not be fearful! 

Posted by Ramón Torres