Strong and Brave
"I've commanded you to be strong and brave. Don't ever be afraid or discouraged! I am the LORD your God, and I will be there to help you wherever you go."
Joshua 1:9 CEV
There are moments when I am not feeling confident enough to face what I am struggling with. It could be something that looks small from the outside — something as ordinary as paying a past due bill. But the size of the fear is never really about the size of the thing. It is about what that thing represents.
Finances have always been hard for me. You would think that working as a bookkeeper, handling other people's money every day, I would have no issues with my own. But for many years I did not balance my own bank account — not because I did not know how, but because I could not face what I might find there. I could not bear to see in black and white how little I had to work with. So I looked away. And the longer I looked away, the heavier it became.
My struggle was real. And it made me feel weak and inadequate in a way that went far deeper than money. It touched something in me that whispered: you cannot handle this. You are not enough for this. That voice was not the voice of God.
But those feelings of weakness drove me somewhere important. They drove me to my knees. I needed God to help me — not just with the bills, but with the fear behind the bills. With the shame that had kept me from even looking.
And God met me there.
He helped me carry on. The bills got paid. But more than that, He helped me understand why I had been so afraid and how to walk through it. In time, I was able to create a spreadsheet to track my bills and due dates. Now I know exactly what is in my bank accounts. God multiplied my finances in ways I could not have engineered on my own, and He gave me the courage to stop hiding from the numbers.
When God spoke to Joshua at the edge of the Promised Land, Joshua was standing at the threshold of something enormous. Moses was gone. The responsibility of leading an entire nation forward had fallen to him. And God's word to him was not a strategy or a plan — it was a command wrapped in a promise. Be strong and brave. Do not be afraid or discouraged. I am the LORD your God, and I will be there to help you wherever you go.
Wherever you go. That includes the kitchen table where the unopened envelopes are stacked. It includes the moment you finally open the banking app you have been avoiding. It includes the conversation you have been putting off, the appointment you have been dreading, the decision that has been sitting on your chest for months.
God does not only show up for the dramatic fears. He shows up for the quiet ones too — the ones we are almost embarrassed to call fears because they seem so ordinary. He is not waiting for you to get strong enough on your own before He steps in. His presence is the source of the strength He is commanding you to have.
It does not matter what fear you are facing today. God will help you overcome it. Not because you are capable enough, or brave enough, or have it all figured out — but because He is the LORD your God, and He will be there to help you wherever you go.
Reflections
What is the fear or discouragement you have been quietly carrying — the thing you have been avoiding looking at directly? How might God be inviting you to face it today, not in your own strength, but in His? Consider the promise in Joshua 1:9: God does not just command courage, He commits His presence. How does knowing He will be with you wherever you go change how you approach what you have been afraid to face?
Prayer
Lord, You see the fears I have been carrying — even the ones I have been too ashamed to name out loud. You know the things I have been avoiding, the burdens I have let pile up because I did not feel strong enough to face them. Today I come to You not with confidence in myself, but with confidence in You. You commanded Joshua to be strong and brave, and You gave him Your presence as the reason why. I receive that same promise today. You are the LORD my God, and You will be with me wherever I go — including the places I have been afraid to go. Give me the courage to stop looking away. Give me the wisdom to take the next step, even if it is a small one. And multiply what I bring to You, just as You have done before. I trust You with what I cannot handle on my own. In Jesus Name, Amen.