Week Nine: Trusting Him to lead us

“Do not be afraid of them.” the Lord said to Joshua, “for I have given you victory over them. Not a single one of them will be able to stand up to you.” Joshua 10:8

Hey y’all!! I hope everyone’s spring break was great : ) A sermon I got to hear over the break really changed my perspective on how I carry out the tasks Jesus has called me to do. I think a lot of us feel a tension in our hearts when we step out of our comfort zone while following God. We want so badly to obey Him, but it’s hard when we deal with anxiety, worry, or fear of what we’re getting ourselves in to. What I realized this past week though is that the main reason we get that tension is because we’re trying to do it all ourselves instead of letting Jesus take over. The pastor I listened to said it perfectly: when following Jesus, you do what you know how to do and trust that He will take care of the rest. A lot of times we have such anxiety because Jesus calls us to an unknown place and, for some reason, we think that we’re supposed to handle it on our own. But, thankfully, that’s not at all the case!

In the book of Joshua, God calls Joshua to “lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them.” (1:6) Now, that’s a pretty big calling to answer to. Lucky for Joshua, the Lord also said, “This is my command- be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (1:9) So let’s think about this.. Joshua has this huge task he has to accomplish, but he also has the Lord’s promise that He will be with him. So Joshua can either freak out and worry about all the details of how he’s going to conquer all the nations, or he can simply do what he knows how to do (fight, organize troops, listen to God) and trust that God will do the rest. The book is filled with stories of battles, all ending in victory for Joshua. It says, “Joshua conquered all these kings and their land in a single campaign, for the Lord, the God of Israel, was fighting for His people.” (10:42) God will really fight our battles for us if we let him! All we have to do is trust, obey, and sometimes just plain get out of the way and let God work.

Another story in the Bible that shows this kind of trust is in Matthew 14. It’s the well-known story of when Jesus feeds over 5,000 people with just some fish and a few loaves of bread. I’d read this story a hundred times, but I’d never really understood the importance of it until this week. Just for a second, I want you to put yourself in the disciples shoes on that day. Thousands of people had come a long way to hear Jesus speak. They had all been outside in the heat all day with no food, and now the sun was setting. The disciples’ idea was for Jesus to send the crowd away to nearby villages to buy food for themselves. Instead, Jesus told them to bring the 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish that they had to him, He blessed the food, and then simply told the disciples to start feeding the crowd. I don’t know about you, but I would be pretty apprehensive about carrying out Jesus’ plan. 10,000 hot and hungry people would probably be a little annoyed and angry at me when they saw I was trying to feed them all with that little amount of food.

Despite any doubts they might have had, the disciples obeyed Jesus and did what they knew how to do: they walked and they handed out food, letting Jesus take care of the rest. If they had tried to figure out a way to feed those people on their own, they never would have succeeded but, because they did only what they could and let Jesus take over for the rest, everyone was fed!


When you’re in a new situation it’s so easy to be overwhelmed by the circumstances or surroundings and take your focus off of God. It’s so easy to focus on what you can’t do rather than what you can. This week, I encourage you to follow Jesus fearlessly, knowing that He will never give you more than you can handle, never ask you to do something that you can’t. If you are obeying Him already, but it’s just been so hard and tiring lately, maybe it’s time you take a step back and re-evaluate how much control your letting God have over your life. I really think you’ll find that the more you give to Him, the more peaceful and worry-free your walk will be.

Currently Listening to: Please Be My Strength by Gungor