Deuteronomy 1:38 But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
Ah Friends, that word encourage, and its noun, encouragement, are mighty words in the lexicon of faith. Moses must have been heart broken, when told he would never set foot in the Promised Land after so much aggravation and worry from his people. The Lord was nice enough though, to take him up into the mountains and show him it from afar. ‘Fat lotta good that does me!’ Moses must have have moaned in his heart. At the end, his job was to encourage Joshua. Now what does encourage really mean? The first thing we must realize, is that encourage is an action word; it clearly implies DO something. The dictionary explains it thus: to embolden, incite, advise, promote, assist, animate, cheer, hearten, steel, assure, strengthen, reassure, boost, excite, galvanize, stimulate, quicken, amongst other things. Wow! All those meanings says it’s a powerful word. In this particular case though, I like the definition; to fill with courage or strength of purpose, especially in preparation for a difficult task. Yes Friends, that’s what the Lord told Moses to do with Joshua; prepare him, mentor him, raise the level of his spirit, add some steel to his soul, some backbone and belly, for the Lord knew the hard task ahead of Joshua. The wayward, stubborn, disobedient Israelites weren’t an easy people to lead. In fact, leadership of anybody or anything is a difficult job at the best of times, and if one isn’t fully prepared it can be disastrous. The Lord understood this and didn’t just catapult Joshua into the leader’s role. No, He had Moses lay his hand upon him, anoint him, so to speak, before the priest and the congregation, so that everybody would realize that he was Moses’ successor. (Num.27:18-23) I like how the Lord told Moses; ‘And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children may be obedient.’ (vs.20) So the people would begin paying serious attention to his opinions and showing him the respect due their future leader. Sadly, preparation isn’t necessary only in leadership roles, but in everything we do. If we’re prepared, we usually perform better. Even the best preparation though doesn’t guarantee success, and we end up struggling, worrying, losing our self-confidence, even giving up. That’s when we desperately need encouragement Friends. And this walk of faith, our earthly journey, attempting to tread in Jesus’ footsteps is no bed of roses. The enemy’s all around, doing his best to break us down, while life itself is throwing all sorts of curve balls and googlies at us. Then sometimes we get a sudden change up; they come so fast, just whistling by yuh head, you’d believe it was Wes Hall or Charlie Griffith bowling them. That’s why we need to surround ourselves with people who can encourage and reassure us; for there are occasions when knowing the Bible from cover just won’t drag us out of the mire. Man is a social animal. We all need someone around us at some time, and for the believer, especially those young in the faith, it’s essential they have people or places to turn to for spiritual guidance when life gets rough, and their faith begins to falter. The mature believer needs it too, cause everyone’s faith waivers at one point or another. Consequently, we need strong, supportive churches, with things like Bible study, or just people in the church whom we can reach out to in times of need, who will strengthen, reassure, boost and galvanize us once more. We also need to surround ourselves with good Christian friends and materials like Scrip-Bit, that keep us focused on God. But the Good Book is always the first place to draw inspiration from; it’s a towering tome of encouragement; (smile) God’s promise and assurance to His followers. In it are also instances of individual encouragement. Let’s look at a few. We’ve already seen the Lord directing Moses to encourage Joshua. It’s also repeated later. ‘But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him.’ (Deut.3:28) And after Moses died, the Lord Himself encouraged Joshua. ‘There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee: I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage.’ (Josh.1:5-6) Wow! Now that’s what yuh call encouragement! In 2 Chronicles, King Hezekiah ‘commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord.’ (31:4) The holy men need also encouragement. We can’t expect them to faithfully practice the Lord’s law if they’re scrounging and scavenging for victuals. Meanwhile, Isaiah 41:6-7 declares: ‘They helped everyone his neighbour; and everyone said to his brother, Be of good courage: So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer, him that smote the anvil..’ And the Lord himself promises to us all Friends; ‘Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee: yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.’ (Is.41:10) Oh people, what great reassurance from our Creator! It can’t get any better than that! And I’m chuckling as I write this; I left the best for last … no it doesn’t contradict the last statement. ‘And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord.’ (1 Sam.30:6) Yes Friends, that’s Bruh David for you; that’s why the Lord held him in such high esteem. And as I read the rough draft tears filled my eyes. Imagine that nuh, the people, his people, wanted to stone him, cause him grievous bodily harm, although he’d lost his family too. But while they wished him harm, he turned to his lifelong protector…he encouraged himself in the Lord. And though it’s good to have others encourage us, when push come to shove, when everything crash, and we’re all alone in the wilderness or adrift on the wild and stormy sea, then it’s our responsibility, cause we are the masters of our own faith, it behoves us then, to do like Bruh David…encourage ourselves in the Lord. Much LOVE!…nothing lifts a fearful soul…like a word of encouragement… Ah know it long, but too bad. If yuh unhappy, talk to the Lord, cause is His orders ah following. (smile)
Ah Friends, that word encourage, and its noun, encouragement, are mighty words in the lexicon of faith. Moses must have been heart broken, when told he would never set foot in the Promised Land after so much aggravation and worry from his people. The Lord was nice enough though, to take him up into the mountains and show him it from afar. ‘Fat lotta good that does me!’ Moses must have have moaned in his heart. At the end, his job was to encourage Joshua. Now what does encourage really mean? The first thing we must realize, is that encourage is an action word; it clearly implies DO something. The dictionary explains it thus: to embolden, incite, advise, promote, assist, animate, cheer, hearten, steel, assure, strengthen, reassure, boost, excite, galvanize, stimulate, quicken, amongst other things. Wow! All those meanings says it’s a powerful word. In this particular case though, I like the definition; to fill with courage or strength of purpose, especially in preparation for a difficult task. Yes Friends, that’s what the Lord told Moses to do with Joshua; prepare him, mentor him, raise the level of his spirit, add some steel to his soul, some backbone and belly, for the Lord knew the hard task ahead of Joshua. The wayward, stubborn, disobedient Israelites weren’t an easy people to lead. In fact, leadership of anybody or anything is a difficult job at the best of times, and if one isn’t fully prepared it can be disastrous. The Lord understood this and didn’t just catapult Joshua into the leader’s role. No, He had Moses lay his hand upon him, anoint him, so to speak, before the priest and the congregation, so that everybody would realize that he was Moses’ successor. (Num.27:18-23) I like how the Lord told Moses; ‘And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children may be obedient.’ (vs.20) So the people would begin paying serious attention to his opinions and showing him the respect due their future leader. Sadly, preparation isn’t necessary only in leadership roles, but in everything we do. If we’re prepared, we usually perform better. Even the best preparation though doesn’t guarantee success, and we end up struggling, worrying, losing our self-confidence, even giving up. That’s when we desperately need encouragement Friends. And this walk of faith, our earthly journey, attempting to tread in Jesus’ footsteps is no bed of roses. The enemy’s all around, doing his best to break us down, while life itself is throwing all sorts of curve balls and googlies at us. Then sometimes we get a sudden change up; they come so fast, just whistling by yuh head, you’d believe it was Wes Hall or Charlie Griffith bowling them. That’s why we need to surround ourselves with people who can encourage and reassure us; for there are occasions when knowing the Bible from cover just won’t drag us out of the mire. Man is a social animal. We all need someone around us at some time, and for the believer, especially those young in the faith, it’s essential they have people or places to turn to for spiritual guidance when life gets rough, and their faith begins to falter. The mature believer needs it too, cause everyone’s faith waivers at one point or another. Consequently, we need strong, supportive churches, with things like Bible study, or just people in the church whom we can reach out to in times of need, who will strengthen, reassure, boost and galvanize us once more. We also need to surround ourselves with good Christian friends and materials like Scrip-Bit, that keep us focused on God. But the Good Book is always the first place to draw inspiration from; it’s a towering tome of encouragement; (smile) God’s promise and assurance to His followers. In it are also instances of individual encouragement. Let’s look at a few. We’ve already seen the Lord directing Moses to encourage Joshua. It’s also repeated later. ‘But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him.’ (Deut.3:28) And after Moses died, the Lord Himself encouraged Joshua. ‘There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee: I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage.’ (Josh.1:5-6) Wow! Now that’s what yuh call encouragement! In 2 Chronicles, King Hezekiah ‘commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord.’ (31:4) The holy men need also encouragement. We can’t expect them to faithfully practice the Lord’s law if they’re scrounging and scavenging for victuals. Meanwhile, Isaiah 41:6-7 declares: ‘They helped everyone his neighbour; and everyone said to his brother, Be of good courage: So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer, him that smote the anvil..’ And the Lord himself promises to us all Friends; ‘Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee: yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.’ (Is.41:10) Oh people, what great reassurance from our Creator! It can’t get any better than that! And I’m chuckling as I write this; I left the best for last … no it doesn’t contradict the last statement. ‘And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord.’ (1 Sam.30:6) Yes Friends, that’s Bruh David for you; that’s why the Lord held him in such high esteem. And as I read the rough draft tears filled my eyes. Imagine that nuh, the people, his people, wanted to stone him, cause him grievous bodily harm, although he’d lost his family too. But while they wished him harm, he turned to his lifelong protector…he encouraged himself in the Lord. And though it’s good to have others encourage us, when push come to shove, when everything crash, and we’re all alone in the wilderness or adrift on the wild and stormy sea, then it’s our responsibility, cause we are the masters of our own faith, it behoves us then, to do like Bruh David…encourage ourselves in the Lord. Much LOVE!…nothing lifts a fearful soul…like a word of encouragement… Ah know it long, but too bad. If yuh unhappy, talk to the Lord, cause is His orders ah following. (smile)
SCRIP-BITS 