Be strong and of good courage

Today’s lesson will center on the thought of “courage.”  To accomplish getting my thoughts out for consideration I’m going to tie together two people as examples and hope that I do so in a comprehensible manner.  One of our human examples is a familiar Bible figure and the other’s name is unknown to me.  But, I believe that both of them will help teach us a great lesson.

One of the things that inspired my thoughts today is that I have a dear friend that is in the process of moving to another state from the one he’s lived in most of his life.  He has expressed some of his concerns about this move to a totally different and unfamiliar area. 

As I know him to be a strong believer I’d like to use him as sort of a kick-off to the first part of our lesson today and hope that my thoughts will be of help to him and all other readers who are facing challenges in their lives.  And it just seems that because earthly life is the way it is (Gen. 3:17-19 tough and full of “thorns”) we seem to always have some sort of challenge before us we have to face.

Ok, let’s start off with our familiar name and that will be Joshua and here’s why I’m going to use him for an example today.  If you recall from your Bible studies, Joshua was the immediate successor of Moses in leading Israel, God’s chosen people.  It was Joshua who was given the responsibility of leading them into Canaan, the “Promised Land.”  It was called the “Promised Land” because of God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would inherit it.  (Gen. 15:18)

Now I want you to think about Joshua’s situation for a moment.  To try to put yourself in his shoes, so to speak.  He’s going into a land occupied by many heathen nations with orders to destroy them.  (Deut. 20:17) Consider that he knew that many battles lay ahead of him and all the enemies he had to face.  I visualize this as being a very daunting task for Joshua.

Now, here’s where Joshua becomes our example.  Three times in the 1st chapter of Joshua and once in Deut. 31:23 he’s told by God to “be strong and of good courage.” God knew that he’d be facing many foes and that he’d have to face some great tasks in leading his people. 

Now Joshua was a human being just like the rest of us.  Subject to the same fears and emotions all of us have to deal with in our lives.  God knew this and I believe that is why He tells Joshua to “be strong and courageous.”   Don’t be afraid.  Don’t be dismayed.  Why not?  “For the Lord thy God is with thee wherever thou goest.”  (Josh. 1:9)

God would be his strength.  His courage was in God.  In essence, God is saying, “Joshua, you go where I send you and you do as I command and I’ll do the work for you.”  Nothing would take place in Joshua’s life that God wouldn’t have a hand in.  Every step in which he led Israel.  Every bit of land taken.  Every battle fought directly involved God.

Yes, Joshua could “be strong” and “be courageous” because, as we say in today’s vernacular, God had his back.  We may not have to fight a physical enemy, however a lot of us do, but we all face times and events that have to be dealt with.  Let’s take a lesson from Joshua and “be strong and of good courage” knowing we can do so because of Who has our back. 

Let me wrap up Joshua’s part of our lesson with one more scripture reading.  Read with me the word’s of David in Psa. 31:24.  “Be of good courage and He shall strengthen our heart, all you who hope in the Lord.”

Our final example of courage comes from an incident that took place at Stanford Hospital several years ago.  A little girl was there because she had a rare and serious disease.  Her only chance for recovery would be to receive a blood transfusion from her five year old brother because he had survived the same disease and had developed antibodies necessary to defeat it.

The doctor handling the case sat the boy down and explained the situation as best he could and then asked him if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister.  The reporter of this incident was present during this conversation and said the little boy hesitated for just a minute and then said, “Yes, I’ll do it if it will save Liza.”

They set everything up and started the transfusion, with the two kids laying side-by-side in their beds.  The boy looked as his sister and smiled at her and all could see the color returning to her face as the transfusion progressed.  The little boy then turned back to the doctor and his smile faded away.  With a trembling voice he asked, “Will I start to die right away?”

Being only 5 years old, he never really understood what the doctor had told him and thought that he was giving his sister “all of his blood.”  The nurse there was later asked about the courage it takes to do her job and she replied that she had “learned courage” having “inspired teachers.”

Closing thought: Did Christ show “courage” by willingly going to the cross and giving up His life when He had the chance to not go?  I believe so.  And I also believe that He possessed the “strength and courage” to do so because God, His Father, “had His back.”

Respectfully submitted,

Ron Covey