02/13/2023
How much courage do we think we possess? Are we filled with fear and tell ourselves that we can’t do the challenging things in our lives? Does knowing that our God tells us to be strong and have courage help us face the intense situations, and the terrors of the world as we do His will? If we think that we are lacking in courage because we are afraid, we should look deeper into ourselves because courage isn’t the absence of fear… it is obeying God regardless of the fear that is present in us. When God, or angels tell us to fear not they are actually commanding us to stand firm in our faith and belief despite the natural human fear we are feeling.
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””
Joshua 1:9 ESV
When I was a boy I thought John Wayne was one of the bravest men in the world, and when he said things like…
“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." - John Wayne
I thought this to be an absolute truth from the Duke, but later in life I realized that he was an actor, and I wondered what wise screenwriter actually wrote that line. As for me, my trust is, and forever will be, in the Lord.
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?”
Psalm 56:3-4 ESV
C.S. Lewis spoke of fear, and he was able to do so because he had faced it in his own life. We have all faced fear in some form, and sometimes it has had its way with us and caused us to crumble. When someone jumps out of the shadows and yells “BOO!” we instinctively shout, recoil, strike out, or run away. These reactions are natural and meant to save our lives, but those fearful situations that we see coming in the distance are quite a different thing; they give us time to contemplate the depth of our fear as we watch them approach. They give us time to dwell on them, and for our fear to grow as we watch them and dread their arrival. These are the fears that we pray for God to take away. These are the fears that wrap themselves around the will of God in our lives in trembling cloaks of temptation and doubt. These are the fears that require courage to face.
"Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. " - C.S. Lewis
When I was a Cadet at the Virginia Military Institute my company was marched to the edge of a sheer cliff and told that we were going to rappel off of it. The trouble with this was that I had a debilitating fear of heights, and edges. I was scared to death. I could have melted into a pool of fear, but having prayed for help, I did something that surprised me… when the sergeant asked for a volunteer to go first I stepped forward without hesitation. You might think that was courage, and maybe it was, but it felt like it was more about not wanting to stand there in dread while others went over the edge.
Later, as an older man, my wife and I went to Glacier National Park in Montana and took one of the Red Buses tours along a narrow winding road called The Going to the Sun Road. This road snaked its way along the side of a mountain and took us above the clouds where the trees below looked like tiny specks. It was only 22 feet wide and our bus took up 10 feet of that. When we passed another bus going the opposite direction there was only two feet of clearance between our wheels and sheer drop offs, and at one point there was a 900 foot drop through the clouds if something were to go wrong.
I was terrified and the only thing that kept me on that bus was my desire to please my wife… my love for this woman who didn’t fear high places. So, clinching to the chrome bar in front of me so hard that all the blood in my hands drained away, and praying with all my might, I stayed the course… was this courage? I didn’t think so at the time, but others might have thought it was.
Later I read a quote by Aristotle, that made me wonder if I could ever had made that bus trip if it hadn’t been for my answered prayers that gave me just barely enough courage to face the danger I felt was imminent. It was courage that helped define my love as I faced the fear I was feeling.
“Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others” - Aristotle
God gives us courage, and helps us overcome our fear. Sometimes it might go away completely, but in my case He reduced it just enough to allow a glimmer of courage to seep through, and I think this is probably the norm… He gives us what we need in that moment, and not necessarily everything that we want.
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19 ESV
As you can tell by now I love scripture because it guides and strengthens me, and you have also noticed that I like quotes. When it comes to doing the hard things that God asks us to do, and dealing with those that bring us to the point of our greatest fear, we will find consolation in both our faith, and prayer. It gives us the same courage that Elijah received when God asked him to return to Damascus…
"We have to be braver than we think we can be, because God is constantly calling us to be more than we are." - Madeline L’Engle
“He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.””
1 Kings 19:10 ESV
So, are we courageous enough to go back to the Damascus in our lives like Elijah was in his, and are we brave enough to face death if this were God’s will for us? Could we sideline our deepest fears just long enough to do something even marginally courageous in obedience to the Lord? Can we trust enough while praying for God’s strength, resolve and bravery in the name of Jesus to obey Him? Could we be those men and women of faith that shake in fear even as they do amazingly courageous things? Are we truly courageous in the face of our deepest fears?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for giving us a measure of courage as we face our fears in obeying you will. Thank you for sending angels to strengthen us just as you did to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Father, thank you for giving us just enough bravery to face the fears we encounter each day. You could easily take away all fear Lord, but then where would our faith be tested, and where would our courage be shown? Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who overshadows our fear with your bravery, and makes our shaking hands to do amazing things for you. We praise you for the beautiful paintings on the cathedral ceilings that took great courage to paint, and your hand on ours that steadied our brush as we trembled in fear. Merciful are you who gives us peace and calm when the fear, that is the world, subsides. Your grace and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus remove from us the overwhelming fear of sin and death. Wash us clean in the blood of Christ so that when we fall to our knees before you on judgement day that we will be found worthy, and in possession of enough courage to stand once more in the glow of your glory, and sing your praises with the heavenly host. Transform us in Christ, and guide us with and in your Holy Spirit as we courageously walk through our human fear to stand bravely in your presence.
“Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.””
2 Samuel 10:12 ESV
“Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt
Rich Forbes