“Be strong and
courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the
one who goes with you. He will not fail
you or forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6
These words, “be strong and
courageous”, are repeated in the Old Testament to and by some of the most elite
of our heroes of the faith. They were
said:
- · By Moses to the nation of Israel before they crossed the Jordan and possessed the land. (Deuteronomy 31:6)
- · By Moses to Joshua as he was transferring leadership of the nation of Israel to Joshua. (Deuteronomy 31: 7-8, 23)
- · By the Lord to Joshua after the death of Moses. (Joshua 1:6,9, 18)
- · By King David to his son, Solomon, as he was commissioning him to be king and for the building of the temple. (I Chronicles 22:13)
- · By King Hezekiah to the people of Israel as the King of Assyria was preparing to attack Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 32:7)
Daunting tasks. Unknown territories. Terrifying enemies. Each circumstance could allow doubt and fear
to creep in. Why is it that we are not
to fear or be dismayed? Because the Lord
promises that He will "not fail you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5) and that He
is “with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)
In each of these passages of
scripture listed above there is similar thought of how to acquire courage in
the face of adversity or a daunting task:
1. GOD
GIVES THE ASSIGNMENT: The assignment is always something beyond ourselves. To
the nation of Israel: cross the Jordan River in its flood stage with several
million men, women, children and livestock.
To Joshua: take possession of the land and conquer very powerful enemies,
the very same giants in the land that caused the nation of Israel to doubt God
40 years before. To Solomon: follow in
the footsteps of your father, King David, and build a temple for My Glory. To Hezekiah:
defeat the enemy. The point is to
not trust in our own strengths and abilities but to trust Him by faith for His
provision. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in
him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
2. GOD
GOES BEFORE US: As disciples of Christ, we are called to follow Him and be
like Him, and He is the Lion of Judah.
“The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are bold as
a lion.” (Proverbs 28:1) Many times in
the Bible it states that we are to “take
courage.” Not mustering it up, not
conjuring it up on our own, not talking ourselves into it kind of courage. Instead, like borrowing someone else’ cloak
to wrap around us, we are to put on the full armor of God. “Be strong and let
your heart take courage, all you who
hope in the Lord.” (Psalm 31:24) Follow
the example of Daniel. An angel appears
before him and Daniel says “As for me, there remains just now no strength in
me, nor has any breath been left in me.”
The angels response: “O man of high esteem, do not be afraid. Peace be with you; take courage and be courageous!”
What was Daniel’s response? “Now
as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, ‘May my lord speak,
for you have strengthened me.” (Daniel
10: 17-19)
3. FEAR
GOD, NOT THE TASK IN FRONT OF YOU: We are human, finite creatures who
cannot see the beginning from the end.
The unknown terrifies us. But “God is love” (I John 4:16) and “perfect
love casts out fear.” (I John 4:18) We are to bring our fears to the Lord to
allow Him to cast them out. To cast is the Greek word “ballo” which means: 1)
to throw or let go of a thing without caring where it falls and 2) to give over
to one’s care uncertain about the result. (G906) Go to God in prayer, casting your human fears
onto Him and allowing Him to replace those fears with a healthy reverence of
who He is. When we see Him as He truly
is: all powerful, all knowing, all wise,
we can place our trust in Him and not in the circumstances we are up
against. This is exactly how David
defeated Goliath. He did not look at the
size of his opponent or the armor he was wearing or the reputation that
proceeded him. Instead, David, a shepherd
boy, challenged Goliath because Goliath was insulting the one true living
God. “You come to me with a sword, a
spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the
God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the Lord will deliver you up into my
hands…that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” (I Samuel
17:45-46)
4. YOU
STILL MUST POSSESS THE LAND: In
God’s strange economy, He still asks us to step out in faith and do our
part. Action and obedience are required.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not
seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) To say it in an opposite manner: “To disbelieve is to disobey.”--Charles
Spurgeon
5. OUR
VICTORY IS FILLED WITH HIS PROMISES: When we are obedient to His calling,
we get to experience victory and will grow in faith because of it. It took courage for the Israelites to follow the
Lord’s command to march around the walls of Jericho for 7 days with no war
cries and no attack, only the marching sound of the army’s footsteps following behind God’s presence as the priests
carried the ark of the covenant. How
foolish the Israelites looked to a gated city with fortified walls. But it did not seem so foolish when the walls
came tumbling down! To be of good
courage is literally translated “to be of good cheer.” Can you imagine the
shouts of cheer and the joyful celebration afterwards to actively participate
in God’s plan and to see His hand at work?
6.
IT’S HIS SPIRIT THAT EMPOWERS US FROM WITHIN. The word for good cheer is “tharseo” which
refers to: “God bolstering the believer, empowering them with a bold
inner-attitude. For the believer, tharseo is the result of the Lord infusing
His strength by His inner working of faith.
Showing this unflinching, bold courage means living out the inner
confidence that is Spirit-produced.” (HELPS Word-studies) He asks us to exercise faith, but then He
supplies faith through His Spirit. Amazing!
7. SUCCESS
IS BUILT ON HIS WORD: The Bible is
God’s very own words to you. He is
speaking to you, giving instruction and revealing who He is to you. When you are meditating on it and being
affirmed in the assignment He has given you, “then you will make your way
prosperous, and then you will have success.” (Joshua 1:8)
8. THERE
ARE THOSE AROUND US WHO WILL BRING US ENOURAGEMENT: To “encourage” means:
to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence.” God is the first one to
encourage us. “For the eyes of the Lord
move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose
heart is completely His.” (2 Chronicles 16:9) But God also brings those around
us to encourage us. This is the beauty
of being in a body of believers that walks by faith also. “Therefore encourage one another and build up
one another, just as you also are doing.” (I Thessalonians 5:11)
9. THE
ENEMY BRINGS DISCOURAGEMENT TO TRY AND STOP US: “Discouragement” means: “to deprive of
courage, hope, or confidence; dishearten; dispirit. Our enemy is the opposite
of God and will do everything he can to discourage us and stop us in our
tracks. When Jerusalem was about to be under attack by a powerful enemy, King
Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to his people, reminding them to be strong and
courageous and that “with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our
battles.” (2 Chronicles 32:8) To discourage them, the King of Assyria sent
messengers to proclaim to the Israelites in their own language that both their
God and King Hezekiah could not be trusted so as to frighten and terrify
them. Did encouragement or
discouragement win out? “And the Lord
sent an angel who destroyed every mighty warrior, commander and officer in the
camp of the king of Assyria. So he
returned in shame to his own land” (2 Chronicles 32:21)
10. SOMETIMES
COURAGE REQUIRES ACTION: King
Hezekiah “took courage and rebuilt
all the wall that had been broken down and erected towers on it…and made
weapons and shields in great number.” (2 Chronicles 32:5)
11. SOMETIMES
COURAGE REQUIRES WAITING: “Wait for
the Lord; be strong and let your heart take
courage; yes, wait for the Lord.”
(Psalm 27:14) Waiting should not be
passive. Instead, it should be alive and
active. In this Psalm, David speaks of
dwelling in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, singing praises to
God, hearing His voice, seeking His face.
David was actively seeking God and learning to trust Him more while in
the waiting.
12. SOMETIMES CHANGE REQUIRES COURAGE: This
is probably the most fascinating thought of all: sometimes a good change that
we desire requires courage. Jesus stated
the phrase “take courage”
immediately before healing a paralytic, before healing a blind beggar, and before
healing a woman that had bled for 12 years.
Why would this take courage on their part? Because they would have to tell others of
what Jesus had done for them. They would
have to change patterns of life they had known for most or all of their
life. The beggar could no longer beg. The paralytic could now walk to work when he
had never had to work before. The woman, trying to hide her private illness,
was asked to publicly proclaim her faith.
Sometimes the very prayer we have uttered for years gets answered, but
then it takes courage to see it through with the next steps of faith.
How about you? What assignment
has God given you today? To turn your
world upside down by accepting His love and forgiveness through faith in His
Son, Jesus Christ? To share His love with your neighbor? To stay pure until
marriage? To forgive someone? To take a step of faith and go where He has told
you to go? Let faith overcome your fears.
Take your shaky knees to the cross and set them down on solid ground in
prayer and in His word. He will
strengthen you. He will encourage you. If
He has assigned it, He has designed it.
Take courage from His brave heart, be an overcomer, and experience the
joy of victory in Christ Jesus today.
“Do not pray for tasks equal to
your powers. Pray for powers equal to
your tasks.” –Phillips Brooks
“Courage is being scared to death
and saddling up anyway.”—John Wayne
