Courage

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN AFRAID?

NEEDED COURAGE YOU DIDN’T HAVE AND COULDN’T MANUFACTURE NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRIED?

FINGERS OF FEAR TRACED DOWN YOUR BACK?

ENCIRCLED YOU? 

CURLED IN YOUR BELLY?

THERE ARE SOME KINDS OF FEAR THAT STRIKE TERROR IN OUR HEARTS. AND THERE ARE OTHERS THAT JUST SORT OF SEEP INTO OUR IMAGINATIONS AND PLAY SCENARIOS OF “WHAT IF” ACROSS THE SCREEN OF OUR MINDS.

Can you relate?

I’m pretty good at playing the “what if” game. I can imagine all sorts of things that are purely supposition, but they still have the ability to create that fist of fear in my gut. Ever wonder why that is?

I suspect is has to do with that whole idea of “what a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Trade “man” for “person” as that was the intention.

What we think is what we become.

AND IF WE ARE THINKING THAT OUR CIRCUMSTANCES WILL NEVER CHANGE –

 THAT RELATIONSHIP IS NEVER GOING TO BE FIXED –

I’M NEVER GOING TO FEEL BETTER –

 IF WE DO THIS, THAT BAD THING COULD HAPPEN –

THEY DIDN’T DO THIS, SO THEY MUST THINK THAT ABOUT ME –

WE’RE GOING TO FEAR THAT OUTCOME.

SOMETIMES OUR FEARS ARE BASED ON PAST CIRCUMSTANCES AND WE EXPECT THE SAME THING TO HAPPEN AS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE.

• If the last time we dealt with that co-worker they made a scene and berated us in front of others, we’re probably going to duck around corners or take the long way around their desk or office or work space to avoid them.
• If the last time we had that babysitter, they stole from us, we aren’t going to trust them again.
• If the last time we visited that land, we saw giants walking around, it’s going to take a lot of courage to face them this time.

Okay, I know we don’t face literal giants today, but Joshua had seen them in his day. His whole generation had died out (except Caleb) because they feared the giants more than they trusted God. So years later, Joshua stood on the brink of that same land, and I think he struggled because God repeatedly reminded him to be courageous.

When Moses commissioned him, the Bible says this about the encounter: 

“Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”

Sometimes we have good reasons to be fearful and dismayed. I’ll be honest. I’ve faced fear often. I look back on some of those times like when I faced surgery for the fourth time or when I miscarried and feared I would never have children. I feared things in childhood that don’t really have a good explanation, and I face fears today because I can’t control the future. I/We can’t control today either, but we try, don’t we?

Corrie Ten Boom said, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”

Strong and courageous equals “don’t fear” and Joshua could trust that because God promised to never leave or forsake him. He could trust an unknown future to his known God.

Our God makes the same promise to us as His dear children. It’s why we can trust Him with today and tomorrow. We can even trust Him with yesterday, especially when we are tempted to fret over what can’t be changed. Or we blame ourselves or live with regret.

Oh, my friend, please don’t live with regret.

Not when God can redeem everything we don’t get right.

I don’t know about you, but I need the courage that God wanted Joshua to have.

I may not be facing literal giants or impenetrable walls or unknown enemy nations. I may not be an old man who is called out to lead a nation to conquer the promised land. I’m not even an “old enough” woman called on to do something outside of my comfort zone. At least not yet.

Well…strike that. I am called to do the hardest thing of all.

I’m called to follow Jesus.

To sacrifice – not animals as in the days of the Law of Moses – but my own body and the words I say.

I’m to present to God my life as a living sacrifice (as opposed to the dead kind) and surrender my plans to His. My goals to His. My future, my today, my hopes, my dreams, my all…to Him.

And then, to go from fear to courage, I am called on to sacrifice the words of my mouth. The praise and gratitude of my lips I give to Him. And you know what I’ve discovered? Praise in the middle of fear and despairing circumstances is the hardest thing I think I’ve ever done.

Because praise and thanksgiving before I have seen the promise or answer to my prayers is showing that I trust an unknown future to my known God. I rest on His promises. I believe He can do anything. I claim faith for what seems impossible. I walk away from the experience with courage to live another day undefeated.

How about you?

Do you need courage today?

Are you fighting fear? Despair? Control?

Circumstances you cannot change?

REMEMBER THAT GOD’S PROMISE IS, “I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU.” HE’S RIGHT THERE WITH YOU IN THIS VERY MOMENT.

AND AS WE TRUST HIM AND PRAISE HIM, WE GIVE HIM PERMISSION TO TAKE OUR FEAR AND REPLACE IT WITH HIS COURAGE.

There is no better kind of brave.

There is no one else who can give it to us but God.

~Selah

#courage #donotfear #livefaith #bebrave #trustinthelord #nevergiveupPersonal, Musings, DevotionsJune 13, 2018