After Moses: When God Speaks After Things End

Joshua 1:1–6

“After the death of Moses…”

That is how the story begins.

Not with excitement.
Not with momentum.
Not with a new plan or a great victory.

It begins with a sentence that names loss.

Moses is dead.

For Israel, Moses wasn’t simply a leader. He was the leader.
The voice of God to the people.
The man who stood before Pharaoh.
The man through whom God split the sea.
The man who led them out of slavery and toward promise.

And now—suddenly—he’s gone.

Scripture does not soften this moment. It does not rush past it. It names it plainly. Because God understands something about us that we often try to avoid: much of life is lived after something ends.

After a job changes.
After a relationship shifts.
After a diagnosis.
After a season when faith felt clearer than it does now.

Most of us know what it’s like to live in an “after.” Not rebellious. Not angry. Just paused. Faithful—but unsure how to move forward when what once guided us is no longer there.

Joshua 1 begins right there. And what God says next is not only for Joshua. It is for anyone standing in that space between what has ended and what has not yet begun.

God Names What Has Ended

“The LORD said to Joshua… ‘Moses my servant is dead.’”

God begins by telling the truth.

He does not pretend Moses didn’t matter.
He does not diminish the loss.
He honors Moses by calling him “my servant”—a title of dignity and faithfulness.

This matters.

God is not threatened by endings, and He is not offended by grief. We sometimes assume that faith requires us to move on quickly, to stay positive, or to act as though loss does not affect us. But that is not how God speaks here.

He names the loss before He names the calling.

And yet, He does not allow grief to become the final word.

God does not say, “Moses is dead, so everything is on hold.”
He does not say, “Moses is dead, so the promise is in danger.”

He says, “Moses is dead… now therefore, arise.”

The story continues.

This is where many faithful people get stuck—not in disobedience, but in hesitation. We know God was faithful then, but we are unsure what faithfulness looks like now. We keep looking backward because forward feels uncertain.

Sometimes we even spiritualize that pause. We call it being cautious. We call it waiting for clarity.

But underneath it is often something simpler and harder to name: grief.

Grief over what was.
Grief over what didn’t turn out the way we hoped.
Grief over a season we didn’t expect to end.

God honors the past—but He does not allow His people to live there forever. He names what has ended so that He can lead His people into what comes next.

God Commands Movement, Not Emotion

“Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan…”

After naming the loss, God gives a command.

He does not ask Joshua how he feels.
He does not ask if he feels confident.
He does not ask if he is ready.

He says, arise.

The Jordan River was more than geography—it was a boundary. On one side was everything Israel had known: waiting, wandering, talking about promise. On the other side was something new, uncertain, and untested.

Joshua could have found many reasonable excuses to delay. The responsibility was heavy. The future unclear. The people were watching.

But God does not negotiate the command.

He does not say, “Move when you feel strong.”
He does not say, “Cross when the fear goes away.”

He calls Joshua to obedience, not emotional readiness.

This is difficult for us because we often believe faith should feel like confidence before it looks like action. Scripture teaches the opposite. Faith often looks like movement before it feels like certainty.

God is not being harsh. He is being kind. If obedience required perfect emotional clarity, none of us would ever move forward. Fear would always have the final word.

God does not tell Joshua to leap recklessly. He tells him to take the next step.

Faith is not the absence of fear. Faith is obedience in the presence of it.

God Speaks Promise Before Possession

“Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you.”

God speaks about the future as if it is already settled.

He does not say, “Once you conquer it, I’ll give it to you.”
He does not say, “If you perform well, then it will be yours.”

He says, I have given it.

The promise comes before the possession.

This does not mean the land will be easy to enter. It does not mean there will be no resistance. It means God is framing reality from His perspective before Joshua ever takes a step.

Think of an inheritance. A person can legally own a home long before they ever live in it. The house belongs to them—but the rooms are still empty. The door still needs to be opened.

Ownership is real. Experience comes later.

That is what God is doing here. The land is given—but it still must be walked.

This is not wishful thinking or self-generated optimism. God is not asking Joshua to imagine success into existence. He is calling him to trust God’s word more than his surroundings.

Fear often whispers, “If God’s promise were real, it would look easier.” Scripture teaches us that God speaks promise first so that obedience does not depend on appearances.

The promise does not remove the risk—but it gives meaning to the step.

God Grounds Courage in Presence, Not Strength

“I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.”

This is the heart of the passage.

God does not say, “You are strong enough.”
He does not say, “You have what it takes.”
He does not say, “Trust yourself.”

He says, I will be with you.

God does not promise Joshua an easy road. In fact, the promise that no one will stand against him assumes opposition will come. The promise is not the absence of difficulty—it is the certainty of God’s presence in the middle of it.

We often think courage means feeling calm. Biblical courage is trusting God’s presence more than our fear.

Fear isolates. It tells us we are on our own. God confronts that lie directly: “I will not leave you.”

Joshua does not receive Moses’ experience or confidence. He receives Moses’ God.

And that is enough.

Courage for the Sake of Others

“Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land.”

Joshua’s courage is not private. It carries responsibility.

Even if we do not see ourselves as leaders, our obedience affects others. Parents shape the faith of children. Friends influence friends. Quiet faithfulness gives permission to others to trust God too.

God does not ask Joshua to guarantee outcomes. He calls him to be faithful.

Courage in Scripture is not about being impressive. It is about trusting God when others are depending on you.

Christ, Presence, and the Step Forward

Joshua stood at the edge of the river with a promise ahead of him and a people behind him. He had God’s word—but not the full picture.

And yet Joshua was not the end of the story.

He could lead the people into land, but not into lasting rest.
He could guide them across a river, but not change their hearts.

The story points forward to Jesus.

Where Joshua led people into a place, Jesus leads us into life.
Where Joshua was promised God’s presence for a season, Jesus is God’s presence forever.
Where Joshua crossed the Jordan, Jesus entered death itself—and came out the other side.

So the call of this passage is not simply, “Be brave.”

It is this: Trust the God who is with you.

God still speaks after things end.
God still calls His people forward.
And God still meets us not with certainty, but with presence.

So the question remains:

What step of obedience is God inviting you to take—not because you feel ready, but because He has promised, “I will be with you”?

And if He is with you, that is enough to move forward.