Motivation Morsel - August 27, 2026

Joshua 1: After the death of Moshe the servant of Adonai, Adonai said to Y’hoshua the son of Nun, Moshe’s assistant, ² “Moshe my servant is dead. So now, get up and cross over this Yarden, you and all the people, to the land I am giving to them, the people of Isra’el. ³ I am giving you every place you will step on with the sole of your foot, as I said to Moshe. ⁴ All the land from the desert and the L’vanon to the great river, the Euphrates River — all the land of the Hitti — and on to the Great Sea in the west will be your territory. ⁵ No one will be able to withstand you as long as you live. Just as I was with Moshe, so I will be with you. I will neither fail you nor abandon you.

⁶ “Be strong, be bold; for you will cause this people to inherit the land I swore to their fathers I would give them. ⁷ Only be strong and very bold in taking care to follow all the Torah which Moshe my servant ordered you to follow; do not turn from it either to the right or to the left; then you will succeed wherever you go. ⁸ Yes, keep this book of the Torah on your lips, and meditate on it day and night, so that you will take care to act according to everything written in it. Then your undertakings will prosper, and you will succeed. ⁹ Haven’t I ordered you, ‘Be strong, be bold’? So don’t be afraid or downhearted, because Adonaiyour God is with you wherever you go.”

¹⁰ Y’hoshua instructed the officials of the people ¹¹ to go through the camp and order the people, “Prepare provisions, because in three days you will cross this Yarden to go in and take possession of the land Adonai your God is giving you.”

¹² To the Re’uveni, the Gadi and the half-tribe of M’nasheh Y’hoshua said, ¹³ “Remember what Moshe the servant of Adonai ordered you: ‘Adonaiyour God has let you rest and will give you this land.’ ¹⁴ Your wives, your little ones and your livestock will stay in the land Moshe gave you on the east side of the Yarden; but you are to cross over armed as a fighting force ahead of your brothers, to help them; ¹⁵ until Adonai allows your brothers to rest, as he has allowed you; and they too have taken possession of the land Adonaiyour God is giving them. At that point, you will return to the land which is yours and possess it, the land Moshe the servant of Adonai gave you in ‘Ever-HaYarden to the east, toward the sunrise.”

¹⁶ They answered Y’hoshua, “We will do everything you have ordered us to do, and we will go wherever you send us. ¹⁷ Just as we listened to everything Moshe said, so will we listen to you. Only may Adonai your God be with you as he was with Moshe. ¹⁸ If anyone rebels against your order and doesn’t heed what you say in every detail of your order, he will be put to death. Just be strong, be bold!”

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This morning, Holy Spirit led me to a familiar passage, Joshua 1. I heard, “Sometimes it is difficult to move forward after the loss of someone you love.” It could be family, a friend, a mentor or trusted leader, and now your heart is so heavy with grief and overwhelmed with having to continue the journey without their guidance and godly counsel. Moving at all seems like a foreign and impossible feat. Yet, here in this passage, we find the Most High encouraging Joshua and the Israelites to do just that in a short period of time, 30 days (cf. Deuteronomy 34:8). I cannot imagine how Joshua felt, yet the Most High was commanding him to move forward with the plan to enter the Promised Land.

When reading Joshua 1:5-9, I could imagine the empathetic tone the Most High began the discourse with that turned into a rallying cry that gave Joshua the boldness and strength to rally the troops, and it was done in a very personal and loving way. The Most High deviated from the usual lifting of the cloud signal; He gave a three day preparation period for the move to be sent through camp prior to the cloud moving unlike all the other moves in the wilderness. The loving Father felt their pain, their loss, the tenderness of the hearts of the people who had just loss their most humble leader of Israel and now have to move on with not only a new high priest, Eleazar, but also a new leader, Joshua (a Messiah type for the Israelites).

Those verses sent me to the disciples who had watched the Messiah die on the cross and for three days felt like all hope was gone. Yet, the Messiah rose again in three days with all power in His hands (cf. Matthew 28:18). His resurrection and forty days with His disciples encouraging them and teaching them what to do when He ascended, gave His disciples then and us now the courage to keeping moving forward, to keep living and obeying the plans of the Most High despite our losses, setbacks, and disappointments.

The word says in Matthew 5:4, “How blessed are those who mourn! for they will be comforted. The Most High loves us and wants us to succeed at trying times like when Joshua and the Israelites experienced the death of Moses and the disciples witnessed the Messiah’s crucifixion and later Ascension. The Most High did not leave  Joshua and Israel or the disciples of the Messiah in Acts without comfort and a guide, He has not left us comfortless. He has given us the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), who is our comfort and guide that leads us through loss and difficult times (cf. John 14:16, 26; John 16:13). We are never alone!

Regardless of what you are walking through today Beloved, know G-d loves us and gave us the Holy Spirit to live in us and to give us whatever we need to move forward everyday we walk this path called life. Moreover, the word lets us know that we can do all things through the LORD who gives us strength and power (cf. Philippians 4:13). No matter how hard it seems at difficult times, know G-d is with you; you are not alone and you can keep going! Rely on Holy Spirit and the word of G-d to see you through.

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Shalom Aleichem