Strong & Courageous,
Heroes of the Bible: Joshua
Joshua 1:11, Numbers 13
 

We are tempted to trust what we see over what God says.  God promised Israel a land flowing with milk and honey.  Genesis 12:7, Exodus 3:8. Israel knew what God said to Abraham and Moses but chose what they saw instead.  Moses sent spies into the Promised Land  and their report is found in Numbers 13:27-28: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey!… But the people who live there are powerful and the cities are fortified and very large.”   Numbers 13:33: “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

God tells Joshua three times in our text to be strong and courageous and He is giving us the same message:

Be strong and courageous. Trust what God says and not what you see.
Be strong and very courageous: The world may tell you that you are a grasshopper but that’s not what God tells us.
Be strong and courageous: Allow God to move (shove) you in the right direction.

Joshua 1:10-11: So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your provisions ready.  Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.’”