Courage

“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.” ~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca

 

Courage is a concept that I would suppose every person has encountered throughout their lives at some point. Whether it be the cries of an orphaned child in Syria needing to press on through life, the bravery to confess one’s love for another, or the simple but incredibly difficult task of taking it a day at a time through struggles of mental illness, courage is required by the very act of living in this broken world.

 

“The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.” ~Robert Green Ingersoll

 

The reason for this is explained by Mr. Ingersoll: defeat is one of the greatest tests on earth for courage, and it is something we all face. Either we have been defeated, fear being defeated, or are in the process of being overcome with defeat, and whatever the case, it strikes fear in our hearts telling us to give up and not try again. Fear tells us to desist, not persist, to go down and not to go on. And yet, there is one fear that the Bible says does not participate in this tendency toward moral, physical and emotional decline: fear of the Lord.

 

“In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and his children will have refuge.”

 

In Proverbs 14:26, one can find this exhortation to respect and love the Lord God.  This psalmist purports that, through fear of the Lord, we can develop a heart of confidence, that is, of courage, and our children will find comforting protection.

 

How can this be? Shouldn’t fear inspire cowardice rather than bravery and confidence? Perhaps it is as Plato says, “Courage is knowing what not to fear.” Courage is not the lack of fear entirely but know what not to fear and, conversely, what (or Whom) to fear. The writers and people of the Bible had many fears, and their timidity bespeaks their humanity, but their overwhelmingly central fear was of the Lord and His name. It is as such that Jewish people to this day will not write out the word “God” but instead write “G-d” and avoid His name, which we translate as Jehovah, entirely.

 

Psalm 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation �" whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life �" of whom shall I be afraid?”

 

Knowing that the Lord, whom we fear above all else, is for us and is indeed our very light and salvation, whom else shall we fear? Jesus himself states to his disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Everything else that might overcome us has already been defeated in Christ. It would seem Plato told us rightly in that we have courage in knowing not to fear the things of this world: the people, ideas, diseases, governments, wars, natural disasters, spiritual forces, or anything else that might assault us.

 

In what are we hoping though, if war and disease and natural disaster are not to frighten us? Psalm 31:24 states, “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” For what then? For deliverance! The psalmist in Psalm 31 writes, “Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.” The words at the beginning of this verse are the words Jesus spoke on the cross in Luke 23:46. So indeed, it seems, though he died bodily, his life and his spirit were redeemed by his faithful Father, as ours are when we trust in Jesus’ work.

 

It is interesting, strength and courage take a partnership in the Bible, such that throughout the Old Testament God is constantly encouraging His people to “be strong and courageous.” Paul tells the Ephesians, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power,” exhorting them to spiritual courage. Lao Tzu’s quote, “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage,” seems to expound on this pairing of strength and courage. Being loved by God, we find strength and loving Him in return gives us courage to fight for His glory in our lives.

 

And so it is, we find that we can walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil thing, nor any good thing. For, as Paul writes aptly,

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died �" more than that, who was raised �" who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding or us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For Your sake we are being killed all the day long;/we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loves us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angel nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We are more than conquerors in the robes of Jesus, so courage becomes natural to us. We live in it as we formerly lived in our sin: completely immersed in the victory where once we lived in defeat.