Stay Focused Joshua 1:1-9

“‘Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go’” (Josh. 1:7, NASB).

When I first become a Registered Nurse (RN), I am taught that it is important that I stay focused on the task that I am doing. The task that is most emphasized is giving the patients their medications. We are to follow the five R’s. These five R’s are: the Right patient, the Right medication, the Right time, the Right dose of the medication and the Right route (by mouth or by injection, or on the skin etc.). If these five R’s are not carefully followed there is the danger of causing harm, even death to a patient. The key to success is that the nurse stays focused throughout the process of giving the patient their medications. In this article we will use our scripture passage to help us to know that God requires us to stay focused on the task that He gives us so that we will be successful.

The first thing that we see in the text is that Moses is dead and the leadership of Israel is transferred to Joshua. Now, I believe that it is important that we know that Joshua is designated by the Lord to follow Moses in the role of leader of God’s people. We learn that the Lord tells Moses that he will not enter into the Promised Land, but he will be allowed to see it from the top of a mountain (Deut. 27:12-14). Although Moses knows that he will not lead the people into the Promised Land, he still wants the people to have success. In other words, Moses stays focused on the people and their taking possession of the land of Canaan that the Lord their God is giving to them.

Since Moses is not going to lead the people into the Promised Land he begins to think about his successor. Who will lead the people now? “Then Moses spoke to the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD will not be like sheep which have no shepherd” (vv. 16-17, NASB). God chooses Joshua and He gives Moses commands to prepare Joshua for the role of leader of the Lord’s people. Verse 18 says, “So the LORD said to Moses, ‘take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hands on him’” (v. 18). In verses 19-22 the Lord gives Moses commands to prepare Joshua for his role as leader of the Lord’s people.

Now that Moses is dead, the Lord speaks to Joshua. The Lord begins to affirm Joshua as the new leader of His people. The Lord has the right person. Now, the right task is given to the right person. The Lord tells Joshua the right land that he is to focus on; the boundaries of the land that He is giving to the sons of Israel (vv. 3-4). The Lord assures Joshua that he will be successful. At the Red Sea Joshua sees the Lord establish Moses as the leader (Exod. 14). The Lord will not allow anyone to replace Joshua just as the Lord had not allowed Miriam and Aaron to make themselves equal to Moses (Num. 12:1-9). Joshua is to lead the people with his focus on taking possession of the Promised Land. What must Joshua do in order to carry out the assignment that God is giving to him? Will the Lord work some miracle to remove all obstacles? There will certainly be obstacles to be encountered. In order to be successful, Joshua must stay focused.

Joshua is to be strong and courageous. This means that Joshua will face some strong opposition. The Lord is giving the land to the sons of Israel, but the people must fight the opposition and take possession of the land. We say that God’s people fight from the victory that the Lord has already won. Nothing will stop God’s people. God has a plan to defeat the foes that Israel must face. The word “courageous” is the key to Joshua’s success. It means that Joshua is to face formidable enemies with faith in the Lord. The spies that give Moses an unfavorable report of the land bring back accurate report of the people and the land (Num. 13:25-33). Now based on their report it is readily seen that Israel’s foes are to be afraid of. Based on what is seen the people ought to be afraid to war against these people. However, Joshua and Caleb have a different perspective. They do not focus on what they see. Instead they focus on the promises that God makes to them. Courage is being willing and able to make a stand when the evidence gives you every reason to be afraid.

Joshua is to focus on what is written in the Law and the commandments that Moses gives to Joshua. At the beginning of this article I talked about the necessity of nurses following strictly the five R’s when giving the patients their medications. We can compare the law and Moses’ commands to the five R’s. Joshua is to focus on these alone. He is not to turn to the left or to the right. Instead he must meditate on them day and night. This means that Joshua is not to even consider doing anything differently than what is in the law. Let us look at one example of the danger of losing focus.

You see, the serpent in Genesis 3 is able to deceive the woman to eat of the forbidden fruit because the woman does not stay focused on the command that the Lord God has given. If we read the account of this encounter between the woman and the serpent, we will notice that the woman deviates ever so slightly from what the Lord had said. This slight deviation; this loss of focus on what the Lord says causes her to focus on what she sees instead of what the Lord says. Once the woman looses focus on what the Lord says, the words of the serpent make sense to her.

The woman looses focus and deviates from the command of the Lord not to eat the fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. She is able to convince the man that it is safe to eat the fruit. The man also fails to stay focused on the Lord’s commands. He too eats the forbidden fruit. This account is not given so that we place blame on the man or the woman for their combined failure. Rather, it is given to us as an explanation of the danger of not staying focused on what the Lord says. Now, let us think about Joshua. The book of Joshua gives us an account of Joshua’s leadership. Joshua kept in touch with the Lord. He stayed focused on the mission, and he followed the commands of God. Joshua was successful. “Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the LORD which He had done for Israel” (Josh. 24:31, NASB).

I cannot begin to tell you of the number of mistakes and bad decisions that I have made because I did not stay focused on the commands of the Lord, my parents, and teachers. I turned to the left, and I turned to the right. Instead of meditating on the instructions that I had received, I listened to the voices of those that did not necessarily have my best interest in mind. They may have been like the serpent. They wanted someone to join them in their way of life. It is hard sometimes to stay focused. Next week the article will be about distractions that cause us to lose focus. For now, let us tune in to the idea that we must stay focused.