Joshua 1 and 2: Obeying God Because You Trust Him

Introduction

That evening, the Kibōgaoka Christian Church of Kumejima, on an island in Okinawa, opens a new book in its Thursday Bible study. Deuteronomy is finished, so it is time for Joshua. Chihiro Kinoshita warns that the group will move quickly, two or three chapters per session, and asks everyone to read the passage before coming.

The thread of the series is set from the start: the blessing of a people whom God leads and walks with, and the response that people gives him. Joshua 1 and 2 add a decisive point about the order of things. We do not obey in order to get something from God. We obey because we trust him.

"Because we trust God, we can respond to him. We must not get this order wrong." The whole message fits in that one sentence.

Outline of the Message

1. The Book of Joshua: A Victory Already Won on God's Side

Tradition attributes the book to Joshua. Since the end recounts his death, it is reasonable to think he wrote most of it and that someone else completed the last part.
The name Joshua is the same as that of Jesus, Yeshua: "God saves." This is a historical book covering the period between the death of Moses and the death of Joshua.
It divides into three parts: the conquest of the promised land (chapters 1 to 12), the division of the land (13 to 21), then the life of the people over the long term and the renewal of the covenant (22 to 24). This renewal brings nothing new: it confirms what leads to blessing and what leads to a curse.
The point to remember: God's work of giving the land is already finished on his side. But on the people's side, there remains believing, responding, and receiving. The tribes receive their share by lot even though the territory has not yet been conquered: "This is the place you are to conquer."
The Levites have no territory: the Lord himself is their inheritance.

2. A Blessing That Calls for a Response

A people with whom God walks is blessed. But this grace comes with a responsibility: to respond to it. If Israel goes out to battle, God fights for them and gives the victory. If they stay at home, the victory never comes into their hands.
It is the same for us in Jesus Christ. An inheritance that does not fade is given to us, but "just because you believed in Jesus Christ does not mean you can do nothing." Faith is the starting point, and then we walk with Christ.
Joshua is a shadow of Jesus Christ. For us, conquest does not mean taking land, but walking in the victory Christ has won and entering into his rest.
We still carry our flesh, and faith does not subdue it all at once. But Jesus has already defeated sin, death, and the devil. The Christian life consists of receiving that victory day after day. Israel's battles are a picture of ours: responding with obedience, through the Holy Spirit, as God's people.

3. "I Will Not Fail You": The Promise Before the Command

In verses 1 to 4, the subject of every sentence is God: he is the one who promised, and he is the one who gives the land, "as I told Moses."
Then comes the promise of verses 5 and 6: no one will be able to stand before Joshua, God will be with him as he was with Moses, and will not fail him or forsake him. Joshua had served Moses, so he knew how close to God that was. This promise was an immense encouragement to him.
In a sense it is unconditional: whatever Joshua is, whatever others do, whether things go well or badly, God stays.
"Be strong and courageous," taken on its own, would sound like a team cheer before a tournament, fist in the air. It is not that. It is an encouragement grounded in the promise: "Everything will be all right, because I am with you."
Direct application: when you encourage or comfort someone, turn their eyes to God, who is with them and loves them, and to Jesus, who has compassion on them. Without that foundation, "it will be okay" rests on nothing. It is by tasting the promise yourself that you can encourage others.

4. Be Strong and Courageous, and Meditate on the Word

The first Hebrew word, hazaq, refers to strength in battle. The second, amats, refers to firmness of decision: the resolve to act, "I will do it." Only in verse 7 does a word meaning "very" reinforce the call: be very firm in your decision.
Firm for what? To observe all the law that Moses commanded. Joshua will have to fight, judge, lead the people, and settle a thousand matters. But it all comes back to this: deciding with strength for what God declares right.
Verse 8 describes three steps. First, the law must not depart from your mouth: read it again and again. Next, meditate on it day and night: say it again under your breath, stay in contact with it, and repeat it in your heart. "God is with me, he will not forsake me, so I need to be strong." Finally, put into practice everything that is written.
Verse 9 takes up the promise again. Promise, command, promise: "it's a sandwich." God says to Joshua: trust me, believe my promise, and you will be able to keep my command.

5. Our Strength Is Not Enough: The Help of the Spirit

Without knowing who God is and that he helps us, we cannot respond to him. With the effort of the flesh and the "I must," we can try to obey. But truly accomplishing what God desires is beyond our reach without the Holy Spirit.
When do we ask for the Spirit's help? When we remember the promises: "God said this, so I will go. God is like this, so I will go. God loved me this much, so I will love those around me."
Chihiro Kinoshita tells of praying recently and understanding with great clarity: "No matter how hard I try, how much I study, how much I prepare, I cannot accomplish anything God desires by my own strength." Hence the need to ask for his help.
Obedience carried by the emotion of the moment, guilt, or a sense of duty does not last. It lasts when we remember what God is doing and what he has done.
Can we claim for ourselves a promise made to Joshua? As a general rule, applying a personal promise to ourselves is dangerous: "I will make you fishers of men" was said to the disciples, and leading the people was entrusted to Moses and Joshua. But when Scripture itself allows it, yes. Hebrews 13:5 takes up the promise for all believers: "Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.”"
Money weighs heavily today, and we feel the urge to lean on it. The Bible does not say to hate it: God gives it for our needs, and we can receive it as a blessing. But loving it more than God or placing our trust in it makes it a god. Rather than worrying about tomorrow, we rest in the God who provides.
Jesus has already won the victory in our place, before us. We only gather the fruit. And even that costs us: "If we let the Spirit fight, it would be settled at once," but we find it hard to let go.

6. The People's Response: Spontaneous, Joyful Obedience

Joshua orders the officers to prepare provisions: in three days, they will cross the Jordan (verses 10 and 11). Preparing food is already responding to God, and the order again recalls the promise: the land that the Lord is giving you.
To the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua says: "Remember" the word of Moses (verses 12 to 15). Their families stay east of the Jordan, while their warriors cross over ahead of their brothers to help them until God gives them rest.
The promise first, then trust, then the response. Not the reverse, as if we responded to collect a reward. The promise is received by faith. "If you get the order wrong, you immediately lose your strength and courage."
The people answer (verses 16 to 18): we will do all that you command, we will go wherever you send us. They heard the promise, meditated on it, and were encouraged by it. They expect God to lead Joshua as he led Moses. From this springs a spontaneous desire to obey.
It is the same for us: when we meditate on the promise, rejoice in it, and draw strength from it, service becomes spontaneous and joyful. When the order is reversed, everything becomes burdensome: "I am doing something good, so God will be good to me," or "if I don't do this, God will no longer be with me, he will abandon me."
God is always "the initiator," the one who acts first. He does not wait for us to do something for him so he can say "well done" and bless us. He goes before us, the victory is already won, Jesus and the Spirit lead us, and we walk behind.
Each time God acts, we rejoice, and the next time we can say: "You have been good to me until now, and you will be again." Trust grows, and our resolve grows with it.
The battle against the flesh is not one we fight; the Spirit does. It is up to us to want it and to take the first step. That step of trust is very hard, and it is what we call "the fight." But once the fight is engaged, the Spirit settles the fate of our flesh in an instant. A half-hearted obedience, made of effort and obligation, runs out of breath along the way: "I can't go on." It does not go all the way.

7. Rahab: God Was Already at Work in Jericho

Joshua secretly sends two spies from Shittim. They enter the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stay there (2:1). Why her house? We do not know. Perhaps because strangers often passed through and they would not be noticed there, perhaps by chance. "I don't know whether it was right or wrong."
The healthiest reading: God does not hesitate to reveal himself to anyone and give them salvation. If someone stumbles over Rahab's profession, the question comes back to them: "And you? Were you living better than Rahab, in God's eyes and not by your own judgment?" It is because God is full of grace that we were saved. Rahab appears in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5).
She hides the spies under the stalks of flax on the roof and sends the pursuers toward the Jordan. It was fortunate they were at her house: elsewhere, they might have been handed over. There is God's providence in that. As for her lie, Chihiro Kinoshita remains careful: "I don't know where the line is." But at least Jesus Christ said it: "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor."
Rahab knows everything: the name of the Lord, the Red Sea dried up, the fate of Sihon and Og. "Our hearts melted." Her confession: "Yahweh your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath" (2:11). That is her faith.
Hebrews 11:31 confirms it: it was by faith that Rahab did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies with kindness. She gathered everything she had heard and believed that this God would have mercy on her and her family. God, his nature, his promise, then the step of faith: the same order as in chapter 1.

8. An Oath Taken Seriously and a Victory Already Won

The spies swear on their lives, in the name of the Lord. Joshua had entrusted them with part of his authority for the mission: their decision binds the whole people. Later, at the taking of Jericho, Rahab and her family will be spared. Joshua did not say "you did something foolish." He honored the oath sworn in God's name, and the whole people kept it.
They respected God's name and word at the cost of their lives. "Is that true of us?" God is full of grace and compassion, but he does not take lightly what we have promised him.
Some commitments may no longer be possible to keep. Then all that remains is to ask forgiveness and receive that forgiveness. After that, we stop committing ourselves on the strength of emotion and ask instead: "What do you want from me?" What God says by his Spirit is his promise and his command.
If we ask according to his will, it is already granted. "Yahweh's eyes run back and forth throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward him." A prayer like "you loved me, you forgave me, you entrusted me with this task, I want to obey you, help me" will be answered.
The spies return: "Truly Yahweh has delivered into our hands all the land," and the inhabitants are trembling (2:24). Before the first war cry, God had already drained the people of Jericho of all courage. The walls will fall by God's power, not Israel's. But the people's obedience will be needed.
Where does this obedience come from? Not from seriousness. It comes from trust in God and faith in his promise. To trust him, we must know him. To know him, we must live the eternal life given in Jesus Christ: a relationship of intimate love with God, forever, lived starting today.
This knowledge does not stay theoretical ("God is love, love is patient, it is kind"). It is nourished by experience: "When I was in that state, God did this for me." The Spirit also gives an inner understanding of it. We study the Word to know its promises, we repeat it, we meditate on it, we live it. And we pray: "Tell me what you desire." The requests come afterward.

Key Takeaways

On God's side, the victory is already won. On his people's side, there remains believing, responding, and receiving.
"Be strong and courageous" is not an empty cheer: it is a call to decide firmly, grounded in the promise "I will not fail you nor forsake you."
The order matters: the promise, then trust, then obedience. Reversed, it makes faith heavy and obedience runs out of breath.
Our strength is not enough to accomplish what God desires. It is up to us to take the step; the Spirit fights the battle.
Rahab reminds us that God does not hesitate to save anyone, and that a faith that relies on his character moves into action.

Personal Application

In your obedience right now, what carries you: trust in God's promise, or guilt and a sense of duty?
What promise from the Word could you repeat and meditate on this week, morning and evening, as Joshua was to do with the law?
When you encourage someone, what do you lean on: a simple "it will be okay," or God's presence and love?
Is there a commitment made before God that you have set aside? What do you want to tell him about it: to keep it, or to ask his forgiveness?
What first step of trust is God waiting for from you, when the victory is already won?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "Be strong and courageous" mean in Joshua 1?

Chihiro Kinoshita explains that the first Hebrew word, hazaq, refers to strength in battle, and that the second, amats, refers to firmness of decision: the resolve to act. It is not a simple sports-style pep talk. It is an encouragement grounded in the promise of verse 5: "I will not fail you nor forsake you."

Why does the order between promise and obedience matter so much?

In Joshua 1, the promise comes first, then trust, then the response. If we reverse this order, thinking that God will bless us because we do good things or that he will abandon us if we fail, obedience becomes heavy and runs out of breath. God is always the one who takes the initiative, and we respond to him.

What does Rahab teach us in Joshua 2?

Rahab shows that God does not hesitate to reveal himself and give salvation to anyone. From what she had heard, she believed that this God would have mercy on her and her family, and she acted by faith, as Hebrews 11:31 recalls. She even appears in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:5.