> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://thepulse.org/en/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Why It’s Worth Staying the Course - URL: https://thepulse.org/en/why-its-worth-staying-the-course/ - Published: 2024-12-10T11:55:55.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-20T13:22:02.000Z - Description: This year was, and is, especially challenging. I often came close to saying, “That’s it, I’m out. I can’t anymore and I don’t want to anymore.” Maybe you feel the same. Maybe you’re wondering whether the fight is worth it and whether you’ll end up on the losing side. - Author: Esther Penner - Tags: Articles, #target-leaders, #topic-self-care If I had given in to my thoughts, I might have felt relief for a moment, and at the same time set off a wave of destruction … Maybe you feel the same. Maybe you feel empty inside because you invest so much and seem to get so little back. Maybe you’re caught between the fronts, between church leadership and parents, or between parents and teenagers. Maybe you have to keep defending your vision, and you can hardly convince even your own team. Perhaps you’re seeing a spiritual awakening among the teenagers right now, while the adults are full of fear and distrust. Whatever your situation may be: I hope what I learned during this time can encourage you to stay the course and trust Jesus in your wilderness, like Joshua. ## Learning to trust in the wilderness Together with 11 other scouts, Joshua was sent into the promised land to explore it. When they returned, the tension among the Israelites was palpable. Full of expectation, the people listened to their report. Then 10 scouts spoke in chorus: “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” ([Numbers 13:31](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/NUM.13.31.NIV?ref=thepulse.org)) But Joshua and Caleb couldn’t stay silent. They objected: “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” ([Numbers 14:7-9](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/NUM.14.7-9.NIV?ref=thepulse.org)) But their words found no resonance. Instead, the whole assembly talked about stoning them ([Numbers 14:10](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/NUM.14.10.NIV?ref=thepulse.org)). The people were in uproar. Joshua felt the fear in the camp, heard the accusations, saw the anger in their faces. Finally God himself intervened. The result: 40 years of wilderness for everyone. Including Joshua and Caleb. And no, God didn’t give Joshua and Caleb a place where they could wait 40 years and live a nice life until the Israelites had served their sentence. No. They had to walk with them. 40 years in the wilderness. Caleb was 40 years old when he was sent out to explore the land ([Joshua 14:7](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/JOS.14.7.NIV?ref=thepulse.org)). Joshua very likely was too. > Joshua and Caleb had done nothing wrong, and yet they had to go into the wilderness with the people for 40 years. The Bible says little about Joshua’s time in the wilderness. But I imagine there were moments when he thought: “That’s it, I’m out. I can’t anymore and I don’t want to anymore.” Hadn’t he done everything to convince the people? Why did he have to pay for their unbelief? Maybe in moments like that, Joshua remembered who God is. In the wilderness he experienced God’s faithfulness: water from the rock, bread from heaven, a cloud by day, fire by night. Every day was a lesson that God is enough. He saw how Moses struggled, how the people rebelled and how God remained faithful despite everything. Joshua had to learn not to rely on the circumstances or the people around him, but on God alone. After 40 years, the time had come. Moses called Joshua to him and said to him in front of all the Israelites: > “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” ([Deuteronomy 31:7-8](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/DEU.31.7-8.NIV?ref=thepulse.org)) And God repeated this calling personally. “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them, to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates, all the Hittite country, to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” ([Joshua 1:2-9](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/JOS.1.2-9.NIV?ref=thepulse.org)) In [Joshua 1:1](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/JOS.1.1.NIV?ref=thepulse.org) we read that Joshua had been Moses’ aide. God had trained him for 40 years in the wilderness. Joshua was ready. For 40 years God had shaped him in the wilderness. He had seen with his own eyes what it means to trust God, and what happens when you don’t. With firm faith he led a new generation, the children of those who had doubted, into the promised land. The walls of Jericho didn’t fall through strength, but through obedience. And Joshua knew: *It was never my strength, but God’s promise.* ## A mirror for us today How often do we, like Joshua, face challenges that seem impossible to us? How often do we feel discouraged by the circumstances or the unbelief of others, or maybe by our own unbelief? Joshua’s story invites us to fix our focus on God’s promises, even when the road is long and hard. ❓ ****What are the “40 years in the wilderness” in your ministry?** ❓ ****Where can you recognize God’s faithfulness, even if you may not have reached the goal yet?** ❓ ****Where are you Joshua? Where do you act like the people of Israel?** **(I had to admit that I act like the people of Israel too.)* Joshua shows us that humility, obedience and a firm focus on God’s word not only lead us through the wilderness, but also into the promised land. Whatever your “40 years in the wilderness” are right now, you can trust like Joshua: > *When God calls, he will prepare you and carry you through.* When the conquest was complete and the promised land was divided among the people of Israel, Caleb reminded Joshua of what God had promised him. > “Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. ([Joshua 14:10-13](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/JOS.14.10-13.NIV?ref=thepulse.org)) We don’t have to worry about the destination if we let Jesus steer our lives. As long as we keep our focus on him, we will arrive at his destination. That is exactly what encouraged me to stay the course and trust Jesus in the wilderness. You are part of Jesus’ triumphal procession. The victory is already yours. He gives you the endurance, the strength and the courage to fight the good fight of faith. Jesus helps you stay the course and trust him in the wilderness. *“I was sixty and at the height of my strength and influence. I was a well-known evangelist and wanted to write books and preach. But instead of being able to serve God in that way, I found myself alone in a dark cell. Everything that had given my life meaning in serving Christ was suddenly taken from me. And I had nothing to do. Nothing, except get to know God. Over the following twenty years, this became the greatest relationship I have ever experienced. But it was the cell that helped me get there.”* ([Wang Mingdao](https://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/wang-mingdao?ref=thepulse.org), leader of the Chinese underground church, released after 23 years in prison) *English version: September 2026* ![](https://thepulse.org/en/content/images/2026/09/Signup-1.jpg) ## Stay on the pulse. Pulse in English has just begun: ready-made material for youth leaders, parents and educators, free. We let you know when something new is out. Count me in Almost done: check your inbox and confirm the link. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.