The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole military force with you and go attack Ai. Look, I have handed over to you the king of Ai, his people, city, and land.” (Joshua 8:1)

God doesn’t want us to be afraid or discouraged when we’re in His will. His provision and power eclipse those feelings…some of the time. Sometimes, fear and discouragement creeps in. As distracting and detrimental as they can be, they can also be constructive motivations that drive us back to God. In our fear and discouragement, we might acknowledge we’re not as close to Him as we should be, that we aren’t seeking Him as thoroughly as we could. And we take a step toward Him.

Either way, we can end up relying on God and deepening our trust in Him.

That’s a good thing.