I’ve heard it said that courage is not a lack
of fear, but is carrying on despite our fears. Many variations of this quote
have been attributed to Mark Twain, Nelson Mandela, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and
Bruce Lee (among others). I particularly like the version attributed to John
Wayne: “Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”
There’s a good deal of truth to this idea
that it’s courageous to press on despite being afraid. A Christian might even
be tempted to think that God wrote the original version of that quote. But if
God made a meme of what He had to say about fear, is that what He’d write? I
wondered that today as I read a verse that said, "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). Notice it doesn't say, Be courageous even though you're frightened and dismayed. No, it simply says: Don't fear!
Another verse came to mind as I considered that. "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10). Is God actually defining courage in these verses as the absence of fear, contrary to the definitions that our culture provides in various memes out there? Does God actually want us to have a courage that's fearless because of how big and how strong and how faithful we believe our God to be?
What these two verses (and many other Bible verses) have in common is that they literally command us to have no fear and then they change the focus from fear (or from what we're afraid of) to a focus on God. In other words, by focusing entirely on God instead of on circumstances, it's possible for fear to vanish and for us to be left standing there with Almighty God, facing the same situation that we'd previosly been so frightened of, but no longer afraid. How is that possible?
The only way it's possible is if we personally know the God of the Bible for who He really is. When Joshua was told, "for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go", Joshua was meant to remember the God who had already provided Israel with a mighty deliverance from Egypt and with faithful care in the wilderness. When we take our eyes off of what scares us and choose to truly focus on the mighty and faithful God who is with us, God expects fear to flee away. In this way, if we know God for who he really is, and keep our spiritual eyes on him in all circumstances, courage can actually be the absence of fear.
Another verse came to mind as I considered that. "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10). Is God actually defining courage in these verses as the absence of fear, contrary to the definitions that our culture provides in various memes out there? Does God actually want us to have a courage that's fearless because of how big and how strong and how faithful we believe our God to be?
What these two verses (and many other Bible verses) have in common is that they literally command us to have no fear and then they change the focus from fear (or from what we're afraid of) to a focus on God. In other words, by focusing entirely on God instead of on circumstances, it's possible for fear to vanish and for us to be left standing there with Almighty God, facing the same situation that we'd previosly been so frightened of, but no longer afraid. How is that possible?
The only way it's possible is if we personally know the God of the Bible for who He really is. When Joshua was told, "for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go", Joshua was meant to remember the God who had already provided Israel with a mighty deliverance from Egypt and with faithful care in the wilderness. When we take our eyes off of what scares us and choose to truly focus on the mighty and faithful God who is with us, God expects fear to flee away. In this way, if we know God for who he really is, and keep our spiritual eyes on him in all circumstances, courage can actually be the absence of fear.
But this will all be a pipe dream if God is
just a theological construct in our minds. It’s when we’re convinced that God
is always with us, know Him for who he really is, and continually look to Him
for help that we can adopt a new definition of courage in our lives (which is
actually a very old definition): Courage is the absence of fear when
we’re focused on the mighty God who is always with us!
© 2018 by Ken Peters
© 2018 by Ken Peters
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