DAY 126 - BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS
KEATON TUCKER, YA GROUPS TEAM LEAD
“Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to give them.” Joshua 1:6
Have you ever heard of a chiasm? I hadn’t either until recently. A chiasm is a literary device used in narratives typically to highlight a central point. Typically a chiasm looks like A-B-C-D-C-B-A. In this structure, everything is important but the author really wants you to focus on D, that is where the gold is for whatever you’re reading.
The Bible is full of chiasms.
The Genesis creation narrative in chapter 1 is a chiasm. The flood story is a chiasm. The entire book of Matthew is one giant chiasm with mini chiasm throughout the whole thing. It is brilliantly written.
This passage in Joshua is also part of a chiasm. The chiasm begins in verse 5 (I will not leave you or forsake you and ends in verse 9 (the Lord is with you wherever you go). Then it says “be strong and courageous” (verses 6 and 9). Then it says “that you may have good success” (verses 7 and 8) and in between those is the middle of the chiasm.
Which is the central point the author wants you to pay attention to.
The middle of the chiasm? All about scripture. This is what it says:
Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success (wisdom) wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate on it day and night. For then you will have good success and will make your way prosperous.
You shall meditate on it and it shall not depart from your mouth.
Why is this the central point?
What you meditate on forms your mind and becomes how you see and interpret the world. What you talk about becomes the world you live in.
Somehow this leads to strength and courage.
If you meditate on all the craziness of the world and the bad news that seems to happen every hour, utilizing every possible input of bummer (like social media, news, gossip") your mind will start to become filled with fear that permeates your body. Then it will become all you can talk about and you have now spread that fear to others. Or they to you.
Or, if you read scripture, memorize it, meditate on it, see the power of God, the miracles, the wisdom, the providence, you will begin to see God is at work in the world and he can rescue it. Fear will be gone, faith will replace it, and you will begin to talk to people in a new way, imparting courage and faith and strength to them. Suddenly, all those problems that are still there seem fixable, solvable, manageable. You have the strength and courage to take them on because you have meditated on the word of God and know he is at work.
Strength and courage will be yours.
Grace and Peace.
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