Dave Willis and a co-host read Joshua 1:9 and apply it to marriage, arguing that being strong and courageous means trusting God's presence over your feelings. They share personal struggles with anxiety, depression, and pornography recovery, then urge spouses to be strong for each other when one partner is weak.
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Welcome to Summer of Scripture on the Naked marriage podcast. For 66 days in a row, we're releasing a short daily devotional for your marriage. Over these 66 days, we'll be sharing one scripture from each of the 66 books of the Bible and talking about how it applies to your life and marriage. Listen to all 66 episodes of these and you'll have a better understanding of God's word and his perfect plan for your marriage. Let's dive in to today's scripture. Hey there. Hey there. And welcome back to the Summer of Scripture here on the Naked Marriage podcast. We are so glad that you've been going along with us. We're all almost through our entire first week and we're so excited. It's been fun. It has been fun. We're on day six. We're in the book of Joshua, and it's one of Dave's favorite verses, probably one of your favorite verses, too. Joshua 1:9, it says this. 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. And you know, we quote this often, I think in like nursery school, like B school, you know, I think vacation Bible school is probably where I first heard this verse. It's quoted to kids all the time because we're trying to, you know, remind them that, that God is their strength and that God is with them wherever they go. But I think sometimes as adults, we forget this. Don't you think, sweetie?
It's easy to lose sight of and you know, the kind of, the context of it. Joshua was this leader who was taken over after Moses had died. And Moses, just this beloved, famous, larger than life leader who had led the people out of captivity, into the, you know, out of slavery in Egypt. And now Joshua is stepping into these shoes that are just so hard to fill and he feels inadequate. And God says right at the start of this journey, like, this is my command. Like, I'm not just suggesting this. I'm not just giving you a little bit of encouragement here. I'm commanding you. Be strong and courageous. Don't be discouraged, because I am with you wherever you go. And guys, that's a promise for us too.
God.
God is commanding us. He's saying, listen, don't live in fear. Don't live in self doubt. Don't live in just feeling like you don't measure up, but say no. God, he's called me here, he's placed me here. He has given me all that I need to be a good husband to Be a good wife, to be a good mom, to be a good dad, to thrive in the places where he's put me. And he wants me to walk in that confidence again. That's not an arrogance. He doesn't want us to be arrogant. He wants us to walk with that humble confidence, humility coming from knowing that God's the source of our strength, but confidence in knowing that we have that strength through Christ who's given it to us, and that we're called to live that out. And there's so much hope in that. So we all wrestle with fear and insecurities and inadequacies and all of that, but there's hope in knowing. Listen, God wants more for me. And even if my feelings are telling me to be afraid, even if my feelings are causing anxiety, I don't have to trust my feelings. Our world says, your feelings are your truth, they're always right. No, your feelings are wrong and so are mine most of the time. But God's truth is always right. And he says that about you, that be strong and courageous because he's with you always.
It's so true. And I mean, how many times in our 22 year marriage have we had to just remember this verse? You know, when things, when it looks like the mountain is just before us, we can't see what's on the other side. You know, the mountain, so to speak, or whatever trial we're going through. And we're like, man, I don't know if we're gonna get through this. Whether it's like financial issues or issues with our children or personal issues, you know, like my battle with anxiety and depression. Your battle with overcoming pornography addiction. I, you know, there's been many things you've had, recent health struggles. We all have those mountains before us where we're like, I don't know if God really can get me through this. I think that we all, if we're being honest, we sometimes have that doubt because we're exhausted, we get weary and we just, we're just like, I don't know. But I think this verse is that command to remind us to trust God. That God, a God we can trust, that he is way stronger than us. He sees the bigger picture. He made that mountain right? He's not surprised by the mountain before you. This is something that is gonna be for our good and his glory and that we just keep moving forward. And I think, like, I love how you talked about feelings, sweetie, because I think that's the biggest hurdle. And feelings aren't in and of themselves, like the devil. Like, I'm not trying to make them like an evil thing.
They're something, guidance.
They're signals.
So they have some purpose.
Right.
We have to use them in the right purpose as signals, like you said, and not as our compass to guide us.
Exactly. But I think we, so many use them as a compass. And we're like, but I'm scared. I'm scared. But do you notice in that command he says, don't be afraid. Like, God already knows we're scared, you guys. There's so many times where I've had to realize that I could be strong and courageous and believe in the Lord and know I can trust him and that his strength is greater even in my weakness when I'm scared, like, you do it scared. There's whole books on this and there's a lot more verses about this, and I love that because God knows we tend to be scared. We can't see the whole thing. It's scary to just to look ahead sometimes at that diagnosis we didn't expect or at that hardship that we just were like, man, I was not prepared for this. You know, maybe we weren't prepared for it. We're not prepared for it. But God is. God is always prepared. And God is there for us. He equips us right? And he is. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. And I've experienced that time and time again. I mean, even going through anxiety and depression, there were many nights where I'm like, I. I just feel so weak. Like, I just want to cry and curl up in a ball. And it's like verses like Joshua 1:9, you know that truth that, like, still small voice of the Holy Spirit would be like, but you can be strong in me, you know? And I want to say this real quick, too. I think sometimes we need to be that voice of the Lord speaking through us to our spouse who feels so weak, to our spouse who feels downtrodden, who's like, you know what? Just, I'm not feeling it these days. I'm just tired and I'm worn out. I just don't know if I can take another step. As married people, we have to step in there and be strong when our partner's feeling weak. And, you know, there's a quote that we have out there that we put out many years ago where it's like, rarely are there two strong people in a marriage at the same time. It's usually one being strong when the other is weak and then taking turns when it comes to being strong for each other. And that's certainly been our marriage. And I've talked to somebody, so many people where that's the case. And so if your spouse right now, you see it on their face. You see it in the way they're holding their shoulders. And maybe they're not saying they feel that way, but you can see it go enter in and remind them that they can be strong in the Lord, but also that you're there in their corner trying to help them be strong. And I'm telling you, your words matter so much. They carry so much weight in marriage as a spouse. And so really dig deep and be there for your partner when they're feeling down. Help them to be strong and courageous by just reminding them of who they are in Christ.
So good. One other lesson we can take from the book of Joshua is that in every battle we face in life, God is there with us. You know, as the nation of Israel went to inhabit the promised land, and they had battles over and over where they were outnumbered and outmatched. But through it all, when they trusted the Lord with the battle, they came out victorious. And I think that on a spiritual level, there's so much we can learn from that. We all face battles in life, battles in our in our health, in our minds, in our marriages and in all different arenas. But if we trust God with the battle, we can come out victorious as well. Guys, thanks so much for tuning in today. Join us tomorrow as we wrap up this first week, day seven, and we will be in the Book of Judges. We will see you then.
