Joshua is introduced in the book of Numbers as one of the spies who was sent to Jericho and gather information about the fortified city. (See Numbers chapters 13 and 14.)

Upon returning, Joshua and Caleb gave their report and believed that the city could be conquered. “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30). “If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey” (Numbers 14:8).

They spoke by faith and were ready to act with the help of God.

The Israelites unfortunately rebelled and God sent them back into the desert. Let us get the right perspective here: Out of a million people or so (Exodus 12:37), only 2 had faith!

“Those who bore the discouraging report and brought discouragement to the whole camp of Israel, when opposed because of their unfaithful witness, served the satanic powers in complete rebellion. And they carried the disappointed congregation with them, in that they believed their interpretation of the land. The congregation took the wrong side, and, inspired by satanic agencies, they cried out against the faithful spies, and bade them stone Joshua and Caleb who dared to bear the truthful representation in regard to the land.”—Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, p. 290.

In the book of Joshua, the Israelites were given a second opportunity to conquer Jericho, and once again their faith was tested. “When Joshua went forth in the morning before the taking of Jericho, there appeared before him a warrior fully equipped for battle. And Joshua asked, ‘Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?’ and he answered, ‘As Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.’ If the eyes of Joshua had been opened as were the eyes of the servant of Elisha at Dothan, and he could have endured the sight, he would have seen the angels of the Lord encamped about the children of Israel; for the trained army of heaven had come to fight for the people of God, and the Captain of the Lord’s host was there to command. When Jericho fell, no human hand touched the walls of the city, for the angels of the Lord overthrew the fortifications, and entered the fortress of the enemy. It was not Israel, but the Captain of the Lord’s host that took Jericho. But Israel had their part to act to show their faith in the Captain of their salvation.

“Battles are to be fought every day. A great warfare is going on over every soul, between the prince of darkness and the Prince of life. There is a great battle to be fought, that the inhabitants of the world may be warned of the great day of the Lord, that the strongholds of the enemy may be entered, and that all who love the Lord may be gathered under the bloodstained banner of Prince Emmanuel, but you are not to do the main fighting here. As God’s agents you are to yield yourselves to Him, that He may plan and direct and fight the battle for you, with your cooperation. The Prince of life is at the head of His work. He is to be with you in your daily battle with self, that you may be true to principle; that passion, when warring for the mastery, may be subdued by the grace of Christ; that you come off more than conqueror through Him that hath loved us. Jesus has been over the ground. He knows the power of every temptation. He knows just how to meet every emergency, and how to guide you through every path of danger. Then why not trust Him? Why not commit the keeping of your soul unto God, as unto a faithful Creator?”—The SDA Bible Commentary [E. G. White Comments], vol. 2, pp. 994, 995.

“The strong barriers of prejudice that have been built up will just as surely come down as did the walls of Jericho before the armies of Israel. There must be continual faith and trust in the Captain of our salvation. We must obey His orders. The walls of Jericho came down as a result of obeying orders.”—Ibid., p. 996.

“The [remnant's] only hope is in the mercy of God; their only defense will be prayer. As Joshua was pleading before the Angel, so the remnant church, with brokenness of heart and earnest faith, will plead for pardon and deliverance through Jesus their Advocate. They are fully conscious of the sinfulness of their lives, they see their weakness and unworthiness, and as they look upon themselves they are ready to despair. The tempter stands by to accuse them, as he stood by to resist Joshua. He points to their filthy garments, their defective characters. He presents their weakness and folly, their sins of ingratitude, their unlikeness to Christ, which has dishonored their Redeemer. He endeavors to affright the soul with the thought that their case is hopeless, that the stain of their defilement will never be washed away. He hopes to so destroy their faith that they will yield to his temptations, turn from their allegiance to God, and receive the mark of the beast.”—Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 473.

The book of Judges presents us with a time where God used individuals to represent Him and through whom He performed miracles to prove His love to Israel.

A familiar story is that of Gideon, in the book of Judges, chapters 6–8. “Again war was declared between Israel and the Philistines. ‘The Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem,’ on the northern edge of the plain of Jezreel; while Saul and his forces encamped but a few miles distant, at the foot of Mount Gilboa, on the southern border of the plain. It was on this plain that Gideon, with three hundred men, had put to flight the hosts of Midian. But the spirit that inspired Israel’s deliverer was widely different from that which now stirred the heart of the king. Gideon went forth strong in faith in the mighty God of Jacob; but Saul felt himself to be alone and defenseless, because God had forsaken him. As he looked abroad upon the Philistine host, ‘he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled.’ ”—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 675.

Why did God choose Gideon? “The experience of Gideon and his army, was designed to teach a lesson of simplicity and faith. The leader whom God had chosen occupied no prominent position in Israel. He was not a ruler, a Levite, or a priest. He thought himself the least in his father’s house. Human wisdom would not have selected him; but God saw in Gideon a man of integrity and moral courage. He was distrustful of self, and willing to listen to the teachings of God, and carry out His purposes.”—The Signs of the Times, June 30, 1881.

“We are altogether too faithless, and too narrow in our views. Gideon’s army prevailed, not because of their numbers, but because in living faith they followed the special directions of God.”—Pacific Union Recorder, June 22, 1905.

Israel was blessed by Samuel who was a prophet, judge, and priest. God used Samuel to anoint the kings of Isreal and reform the nation in a time of spiritual decline, “And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only” (1 Samuel 7:3, 4).

However, it was the faith of his mother in requesting from God a son that had given Israel this prophet, judge, and priest!

“And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.” (1 Samuel 1:10, 11).

“Hannah was a woman of fervent piety and lofty faith.”—From Eternity Past, p. 411.

“What a reward was Hannah’s! and what an encouragement to faithfulness is her example! There are opportunities of inestimable worth, interests infinitely precious, committed to every mother. The humble round of duties which women have come to regard as a wearisome task should be looked upon as a grand and noble work. It is the mother’s privilege to bless the world by her influence, and in doing this she will bring joy to her own heart. She may make straight paths for the feet of her children, through sunshine and shadow, to the glorious heights above. But it is only when she seeks, in her own life, to follow the teachings of Christ that the mother can hope to form the character of her children after the divine pattern. The world teems with corrupting influences. Fashion and custom exert a strong power over the young. If the mother fails in her duty to instruct, guide, and restrain, her children will naturally accept the evil, and turn from the good. Let every mother go often to her Saviour with the prayer, ‘Teach us, how shall we order the child, and what shall we do unto him?’ Let her heed the instruction which God has given in His word, and wisdom will be given her as she shall have need.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 572, 573.

“Naaman’s servants entreated him to carry out Elisha’s directions: ‘If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing,’ they urged, ‘wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?’ The faith of Naaman was being tested, while pride struggled for the mastery. But faith conquered, and the haughty Syrian yielded his pride of heart and bowed in submission to the revealed will of Jehovah. Seven times he dipped himself in Jordan, ‘according to the saying of the man of God.’ And his faith was honored; ‘his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.’ ”—Prophets and Kings, p. 249.

“Today in every land there are those who are honest in heart, and upon these the light of heaven is shining. If they continue faithful in following that which they understand to be duty, they will be given increased light, until, like Naaman of old, they will be constrained to acknowledge that ‘there is no God in all the earth,’ save the living God, the Creator.” —Ibid., p. 253.

“Jehoshaphat was a man of courage and valor. For years he had been strengthening his armies and his fortified cities. He was well prepared to meet almost any foe; yet in this crisis he put not his trust in the arm of flesh. Not by disciplined armies and fenced cities, but by a living faith in the God of Israel, could he hope to gain the victory over these heathen who boasted of their power to humble Judah in the eyes of the nations.”—Ibid., pp. 198, 199.

“In safeguarding the rights and liberties of his subjects, Jehoshaphat emphasized the consideration that every member of the human family receives from God, who rules over all. Those who are appointed to act as judges under Him are to ‘defend the poor and fatherless,’ and ‘do justice to the afflicted and needy.’ Psalm 82:3.”—From Splendor to Shadow, p. 104.

One of the last historical books give us the history of Nehemiah. He was a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. After Israel had been captives for close to 100 years, God used him to revive the faith of Israel and prepare the way for their return to Jerusalem. “And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of the king Darius” (Ezra 6:15).

“By faith taking fast hold of the divine promise, Nehemiah laid down at the footstool of heavenly mercy his petition that God would maintain the cause of His penitent people, restore their strength, and build up their waste places. God had been faithful to His threatenings when His people separated from Him; He had scattered them abroad among the nations, according to His Word. And Nehemiah found in this very fact an assurance that He would be equally faithful in fulfilling His promises.”—The SDA Bible Commentary [E. G. White Comments], vol. 3, p. 1136.

“The success attending Nehemiah’s efforts, shows what prayer, faith, and wise, energetic action, will accomplish. Living faith will prompt to energetic action. The spirit manifested by the leader will be, to a great extent, reflected by the people. If the leaders professing to believe the solemn, important truths that are to test the world at this time, manifest no ardent zeal to prepare a people to stand in the day of God, we must expect the church to be careless, indolent, and pleasure-loving.”—Christian Service, p. 177.

“I again urge you for the truth’s sake, for Christ’s sake. . . There must be a waking up among believers. Each may be so imbued with the spirit of the work that he will be a Nehemiah, possessing holy energy and faith and hope, thus strengthening one another’s hands, depending wholly on God, the great and mighty Worker.”—Manuscript Releases, vol. 11, p. 12.

“We are not out of danger even now. Every soul who engages to give to the world the message of warning will be sorely tempted to pursue such a course in life as will deny his faith. It is Satan’s studied plan to make the workers weak in prayer, weak in power, and weak in influence, because of their defects of character.”—Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 592.

From the historical books of the Bible, we can learn that God wants to have a strong faith in Him—a personal relationship. A strong faith in leadership like Gideon, Nehemiah and Samuel. A strong faith in the Lord like Naaman when it comes to our health. We also find examples of strong faith in God which is needed in our relationships (marriage and parenthood) represented by Hannah, Eli, Samson. A strong faith in our career like Nehemiah and Daniel.

“Every one of us will be tried; and unless we are closely connected with God, the trials that will come upon us will weaken our already weak faith, and we shall become the sport of Satan’s temptations. But if we are connected with Christ and draw close to Jesus when these trials come, He will draw nigh to us. Satan will have no victory over us. ‘Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.’ We must commit the keeping of our souls to God as unto a faithful Creator. —Letters and Manuscripts, vol. 4, Ms 4, 1885.

“The faith of Abraham is needed in our churches today, to lighten the darkness that gathers around them, shutting out the sweet sunlight of God’s love, and dwarfing spiritual growth. Our faith should be prolific of good works; for faith without works is dead. Every duty performed, every sacrifice made in the name of Jesus, brings an exceeding great reward. In the very act of duty, God speaks, and gives His blessing. But He requires of us an entire surrender of the faculties. The mind and heart, the whole being, must be given to His service; or we fall short of becoming true Christians.”—The Signs of the Times, June 2, 1887.

May God help us to be faithful!

Amen.