April 25 Daily Devotional

Be Strong in the Lord

the Rev. David Freeman

"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be than dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."
"Joshua 1:9

Devotional

Similar to the above words are the following: uttered by the risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples: "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." The same God spoke both.

Joshua was commanded to possess the land of Canaan and subdue God's enemies. The disciples were to go with the gospel at the bidding of Him who had all authority and power in heaven and in earth. Both are missions of conquest. "Having made peace through the blood of his cross," Christ will "reconcile all things unto himself; . . . whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." Christ as Mediatorial King is now reigning and subduing His enemies and when He comes at the end of all things, complete victory will be His. Then he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, and then "he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power."

God's children are soldiers of a warrior King. They are not to rest until His enemies are made His footstool. But He docs not leave them in the conflict without encouragement, instruction- and direction. Especially before a peculiar contest God draws near to His people with an endowment of confidence in Himself.

Whenever we are about to forget the promises because of the difficulties in the way of their fulfillment, the Lord graciously draws nigh with a fresh disclosure of His help.

God reminded Joshua of the victories of Moses to assure him that as He fought for Moses, He would now take up the cause of His chosen servant. What greater assurance can God give to any man than the past record of His wonderful doings right here in this world! Surely He is not a God who is far off from such as put their trust in Him.

God's assistance in the past enables us through faith to behold the victorious consummation of the good work He has begun, in us.

As frail creatures of the dust we are naturally timid, anxious and fretful. For this, God has but one cure. It is His promise, "I will not fail thee." Is not that enough?

"What more can he say than to you he hath said,
I'll never, no, never, no, never forsake."

To the promise is added exhortation. Scripture is full of spurs. We need them, since we are sluggish, our abilities weak, and constantly assailed by Satan. To nothing are we more inclined than to relax our efforts. Therefore are we constantly incited to the performance of duty. Again and again strength and constancy are required of Joshua. To this end the Lord repeats the phrase "Be strong."

(to be continued)

"Lift Up Your Heart" is a series of devotionals by the late Rev. David Freeman, an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church for most of his life. These devotionals, in fact, are part of the early history of our denomination. The first of them was published in The Presbyterian Guardian in 1935; the denomination now known as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church was officially formed in 1936. We believe that "the Word of our God stands forever" (Isaiah 40:8; see 1 Peter 1:25). Thus it is no surprise that meditations based on that Word have continued relevance today. Dr. Freeman's devotionals are proof of that fact.

David Freeman was a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary (Th.B., 1928; Th.M. , 1930) and of Dropsie Univiersity (Ph.D., 1951). He served as pastor at Grace (later New Covenant) Presbyterian Church (OPC), Philadelphia, PA (1936-1946), Knox Presbyterian Church (OPC), Philadelphia, PA (1949-1962), and Grace Presbyterian Church (OPC), Fall River, MA (1962-1967). He authored many articles and (along with his son, David H. Freeman) is the author of the book A Philosophical Study of Religion, which appeared in 1964. He went to be with the Lord in 1984.

There is one change from the way the daily devotional was handled in the past with John Skilton's Think On These Things: New devotionals for the new series appear on weekdays only (Monday through Saturday. It is suggested that you use your pastor's sermon text(s) as the basis for your mediations on the Lord's Day.

We trust that you will find these devotionals, once again made available seventy years after they first appeared, to be a personal help in your own Christian walk today!

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