Joshua 2:9 And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you
Perhaps as a teenager you had the experience of being in a crowded car with a bunch of young people when a suggestion was made about something your friends wanted to do that you knew was not right. Peer pressure is a very real thing. It is a sort of fear. So, you feared being the odd man out, of being contrary to everyone else in the car. But you thought about a dad and mom whom you regarded with love and maybe even a sense of fear, and you found the courage to do the right thing because you feared your dad more than you feared your friends.
Oftentimes courage is simply knowing whom to fear. Sometimes we are fearful of something and that fear can be mollified or lessened if we fear the right person. We find this illustrated in Joshua 2. God was leading the children of Israel into the land of Canaan. Several times in Joshua 1, God says to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid. Fear not. Be strong and of a good courage. I am with you and I have promised this land to you.” So, Joshua had God’s promise and His presence. He literally had God’s Word on it.
Oftentimes Israel feared the enemy that actually feared them. This enemy that feared them is shown in Joshua 2 where Joshua sent spies into the city of Jericho to prepare for the battle against Jericho. In verse 9 the two spies met a woman, a harlot, in Jericho and she said, “I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.” Verse 11 says, “As soon as we heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.”
Here is a lady who said, “We feared you because of what your God had done before you because of the Lord your God, He is the God. It is obvious He is a God in a way that our images of stone are not.” So, Joshua had a natural tendency to fear Jericho and there was a woman in Jericho who feared the God of Joshua. What you find is when the spies came back to Joshua, they said, “Hey, God is with us. Truly the Lord has delivered Jericho into our hands because even all the inhabitants of the country are fearful of us.”
Joshua did not want to face destruction and did not want to die. There were fears as there would be with anyone about to embark on some great battle, yet Joshua had the courage to obey, not because he did not have some natural fear, but because he knew whom to fear. He feared God more than he feared the enemies of God. That is a good lesson for us today. You may face giants, walls, or battles, and there are fears that are very natural and very real. The more you focus on God and the more confident you are of what He has said, the more you are assured of His presence, and when we fear God, the less we need fear anything else.
So, don’t judge your prospects today without God. If you view your prospects, problems, people, and future without God in the picture, you are going to fear all of those things. If you figure God into the picture, that is a horse of a different color. What seems risky now, may be the safest thing. Rahab certainly risked her own neck to protect those two spies of Israel, and because she did, she and her family were spared when Jericho fell. In fact, Rahab is a picture of God’s grace. She was a Canaanite harlot who grew up in paganism, yet she saw the works of Jehovah, believed in God, and experienced His grace because she feared Him more than she feared the soldiers of Jericho. So, whatever you face today, remember that courage is not the absence of fear, it is knowing whom to fear.