I carelessly wiped the drops of sweat off of my weather-beaten face. The salty water stung my eyes as I strained to catch a glimpse of a chaotic group of raggy-clothed warriors progressing towards me. They were still yet afar off—though they were making their way at quite a reasonable pace through the dusty desert landscape.


I turned my back on the approaching mob to face my men. Though some of them may have shown a hint of anxiety on their faces, I could not resist showing a smirk of satisfaction at the sight of the calm confidence displayed on each of my soldier’s faces. They faintly reminded me of my younger years.


For a moment, I thought back to the time before my good friend had appointed me as his military commander—back then, I was just a young slave in Egypt. Perhaps, even, I resembled one of these young soldiers, who were standing before their general with a casual, yet sincere respect.


Yes, that was during the time before Yahweh took us out of Egyptian oppression and brought us out here into the desert on the journey to the Land of Promise. Slavery had been hard and demanding, but I knew we were all the better for it. The hard labor had strengthened and toughened all the men of Israel and would allow us to endure attacks from our enemies with greater ease.


and won many battles by the mighty hand of Yahweh. War was fierce, bloody, and extremely dangerous—especially without a strong general. It took a leader with an extraordinary amount of courage, faith, and most of all, unwavering discipline to carry out successful missions one after another.


J


But this was precisely the man Joshua is described as in Scripture. We read about Joshua as “a man full of Spirit” and a man who “followed Yahweh completely” (Numbers 27:18, 32:12). He almost never turned Yahweh’s word down by reason of his fear or his own wisdom. Joshua continually made the difficult choice to exercise self-discipline by completely trusting in Yahweh’s protection and deliverance.


Although it may not be immediately clear, Joshua exercised self-discipline many times throughout Scripture. In Joshua chapter five, we read about


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oshua was a man of war—seasoned in combat and an experienced leader. He fought for Israel


Israel’s preparation for the enormous undertaking of clearing the land of all Yahweh’s enemies. Most likely, many experienced generals under Joshua’s command would have thought that this was the perfect time to strike. It seems like all of Israel’s spirits were high, and we read that the Amorites and Kena’anites were trembling in fear.


Realizing that all the nations were freaking out because of them, Joshua’s generals were probably thinking something to the effect of, “OK guys, now is the time. Let’s plow them over while the picking is ripe!” Yahweh, however, had a completely different plan for Israel. He told Joshua He needed to renew His covenant with Israel, and that they were to have the Pesach (Passover).


Although Joshua’s experience would have called for an early strike, he kept himself in obedience to Yahweh and then related the Word of Yahweh to his men. Many times throughout Scripture, Joshua exercised self-discipline giving us great examples of this extremely valuable character trait. •


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