Session 1
Joshua 1:1-11,16-18
Memory Verse: Joshua 1:8
One of my favorite approaches to Bible study involves
focusing on key characters in God’s story of redemption.
For these personalities, responding to God’s call
demanded courage.
Abram leaving his homeland.
Moses confronting Pharaoh.
Stephen preaching to the Sanhedrin.
Paul repeatedly facing persecution.
They all required courage.
God specifically commanded Joshua to be courageous
as He called him to lead Israel into the promised land (Josh. 1:9).
That courage was grounded in the assurance
of God’s trustworthiness as He promised to stay with His people and to give them Canaan.
Russell Kelso Carter was a professor at the
Pennsylvania Military Academy in 1886 when he wrote
“Standing on the Promises.”
For well over a century this great hymn has been sung
by believers all over the world.
Why? Because its lyrics remind believers that God is trustworthy
and His promises “cannot fail.”
Consequently, those who are trusting in God “cannot fall.”
Joshua discovered these truths and grounded his courage
in the assurance of God’s trustworthiness. (PSG, p. 10)
“When God called Joshua to be Moses’s replacement,
humanly speaking, Joshua had every reason to be intimidated.
He had witnessed many of the things God did through Moses.
However, as with Moses, God had prepared Joshua for his task. .God’s assignment for Joshua would be different in nature
from what Moses’s assignment had been.
Nonetheless, as with Moses, God providentially prepared Joshua
for the task before him.
Therefore, there was every reason for Joshua to trust the Lord
and be strong and courageous.”
Today’s study examines the transition from Moses’s leadership
to Joshua’s leadership.
It was a huge challenge.
But while the human leadership had changed, God had not.