Courage!
When the teacher asks a question in a typical first-grade class, all the hands go up hoping the teacher will call on them. In the sixth-grade class, when the teacher asks a question, maybe one or two students raise their hands.
What changed?
Our childlike courage, curiosity, and fearlessness diminish every year as our experiences of criticism, condescension and ridicule etch their grooves of painful tributaries into our souls. In addition to the negative words of others, our real-life experiences of disappointment, defeat, and failure feed our psyche’s compounding fear; fear to dream, fear to hope, fear to take action.
Men and Women of God, you are many years now since first grade. What is the state of your soul today?
Courage is fear that has said it prayer! Jill Briscoe
When you look out into the world and prayerfully conceive your future, what do you see? Perhaps your human nature causes you to look forward through a smudged-lens telescope of fear and doubt. Your compounded experiences of fear and failure cloud your vision. What are you to do?
Consider this my friends:
- Your thoughts of God are too small!
- Your thoughts of your life in Christ are too small!
- Consequently, your thoughts about God’s calling upon your life are too small!
Allow me to reveal to you a vivid contrast of fear and courage. The timestamp is approximately 1000BC. The text is I Samuel 13, 14. The commander and chief of Israel is the weak-hearted King Saul. The enemy of Israel is the Philistines. The honor of God is at stake.
Now the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6000 horsemen, and people like the sand which is on the seashore in abundance … when the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble, they hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in cliffs, in cellars, and in pits … But as for Saul … all the people following him trembled.
This is fear. This is being scared to death. This is an Israelite army following a weak-kneed leader.
While the army hid, Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to his young armor-bearer, come and let us cross over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on the other side. But he (Jonathan) did not tell his father.
Friends, I have a simple question for you; is your life characterized by hiding (in caves, in thickets, in cliffs, in cellars, and in pits) or are you moving forward and crossing over the garrison to the other side?
- Your thoughts of God are too small!
- Your thoughts of your life in Christ are too small!
- Consequently, your thoughts about God’s calling upon your life are too small!
Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, ‘Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the Lord will work for us, for the Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few.’ His armor bearer said to him, ‘Do all that is in your heart; turn yourself, and here I am with you according to your desire.’
This is courage. This is leadership. This is fear that has said its prayer.
What was the source of His courage? Jonathon knew what his father didn’t know. The young armor-bearer knew what the Israelite army didn’t know.
Jonathan knew that the Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few.
Regarding the endeavors we embark upon, our confidence lies in the affirmations of many people and the volume of our resources. But God is not restrained by many or by few.
Jonathan’s confidence was not in the number of soldiers or in the volume of weapons and horses. His confidence was in God, who is not restrained by human resources, big or small. Jonathan went forward and the Philistines fell down before him. Then the earth shook and the rest of the army fled in fear.
God can and He does, at times, choose to use just one person; one person of courage and faith. One person who looks beyond the compounded fears of their souls and places their confidence in God. A person who has a lofty view of God and therefore, a lofty view of the plan that God has for their lives.
Learning Alert: When Jonathan crossed over by faith, he didn’t know for sure what God would do. Remember, he said, Come and let us cross over … perhaps the Lord will work for us.
Jonathan had faith but he wasn’t presumptuous. He simply knew that God wanted him to cross over, but he didn’t know how or what God was going to do. Remember, courage is simply fear that has said its prayer. Once prayed up, courage takes action.
Father, you first call us to be humble servants of You. Once you have melted our hearts with your grace and forgiveness, you lift our heads and turn our eyes toward the hills and tell us to go. The hills we are climbing are filled with dangers and difficulties. Nevertheless, this is the place you have called us to; our families, our workplace, our neighborhoods, our community, our mission field. Give us strength, wisdom and courage to follow where you lead us. Amen