Strong and Courageous

Deuteronomy 31:6 (NIV) - “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” 

Yeah, new blog, same verse, but different emphasis. For a long time now I feel like God’s been teaching me about the first part – being strong and courageous. What does that even mean? What does it mean to live with strength and courage?

First of all, I just want to say that everything I’m writing is just my opinion. It’s just what I think… what I feel like I’m supposed to write. I’m not claiming to know everything or even to be right. OK, disclaimer over.

When I think of the phrase “strong and courageous” my brain inevitably travels down two paths.

   1. My Dad. He says this phrase a lot, especially when he’s praying over me or my brother and sister. I know that he prays for us a lot when I am not there to hear him, but when I hear him pray out loud for us, I almost always hear this phrase – he asks that we would be strong and courageous. When I think about this, I smile, and then I pray. I want to be the strong and courageous woman that my Dad sees when he looks at me.

   2. The movies Cinderella Man, Gladiator, and Braveheart. [If you haven’t seen them, clear a few hours and do it. You won’t regret it. If you do regret it, we are no longer friends.] In stories full of passion and right vs. wrong, the men in these movies beat the odds by beating the snot out of the bad guys. They are some of the best cinematic examples of strength and courage. I don’t care if I’m a girl; I love these movies. I love cheering for the good guys.

So how can I be strong and courageous?

I have a pretty good idea of what strength is, but I want to get my facts straight so I looked up courage on dictionary.com (yep, I’m a nerd…) and the first definition given for courage is: “the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc. without fear; bravery.” 

Without fear? Here is where Mr. Webster and I disagree. 

I don’t think that the absence of fear is a requirement for courage. 

I readily admit that I could be wrong, but in my mind, those men weren’t necessarily without fear. I think that Jim Braddock might have been a little bit afraid before he fought Max Baer. I think that Maximus Decimus Meridius probably wasn’t thinking “Awesome! A lion too!” And William Wallace was always talking about “FREEDOM!” but not about an absence of fear. I think that what set them apart, truthfully, was acting despite that fear. 

The third definition of courage is what I think of when I think of true courage – “having the courage of one’s convictions, to act in accordance with one’s beliefs, esp. in spite of criticism.”

I’ve still got things rattling around in my head, but this is what I’m sure of so far – God gives us courage. He commands us to have courage, which (to me) indicates that it’s not natural for us. It’ll be natural to be afraid, but we are supposed to have courage. 

In Joshua 1:1-9, when the LORD appoints Joshua as the leader over Israel, He tells him to be strong and courageous repeatedly:

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: 2 "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. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates--all the Hittite country--to the Great Sea on the west. 5 No one will be able to stand up 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. 6 "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 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. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; 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. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." (emphasis added)

I’m guessing that it was kind of important that Joshua be strong and courageous.

Do you see what it says in the last verse, though? “Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged.” Well, I fail for the week. I haven’t been terrified, but I’ve let myself be afraid. I’ve let myself get discouraged. 

So what are we supposed to do? How do we live in a way that is strong and courage, without being terrified and discouraged? 

He doesn’t ask us to stuff our feelings. I think that, instead, He asks us to choose – to choose Him. He wants us to be honest about how we feel. He wants us to choose to believe, to act, to LIVE in spite of ourselves. 

When the fear pops into our minds, we take it captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). We go to God and give it to Him, telling Him (and ourselves) the truth – He is bigger than whatever we are scared of, and we depend on Him. And then, we just act. We step out in faith to do what we believe that He wants us to do, despite how we feel in that small moment.

Philippians 1:20 – “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.”