Profiles in Courage

“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

In 1955, Senator John F. Kennedy wrote a book entitled “Profiles in Courage” which profiled eight senators in United States history acting courageously in the face of tremendous opposition. The Bible also has its own “profiles in courage” of individuals whose lives demonstrated great courage in the face of terrible opposition, one of which was the Jewish leader Joshua.

Joshua was the leader of the nation of Israel after Moses. Moses had been the indisputable leader for the past 40 years, successfully leading the fledgling nation out of slavery in Egypt. It had been under Moses’ leadership that the plagues had been wrought upon the Egyptians and the nation miraculously passed through the Red Sea. Moses was the one through whom God had spoken at Sinai, giving him the Ten Commandments. He was the one who had received the law and the diagram of the Tabernacle. He was the one with whom God met face to face, and through whom God spoke. It was no wonder then that Joshua needed some encouragement to succeed Moses’ leadership.

Following Moses’ leadership had to be intimidating, which is why Joshua had to be told six times to be courageous (Deuteronomy 31:7, 23; Joshua 1:6, 7, 9). I think we are all a bit like Joshua. We need to be courageous to live the life Christ desires of us. It is no secret that the most often repeated command in Scripture is to “fear not.” We are naturally inclined to fear, fearing situations, circumstances, and what others think and do. Joshua was no different. He needed to be courageous to do what God wanted him to do. God delights in making the cowardly courageous, as Erwin McManus wrote:

“The history of God’s people is not a record of God searching for courageous men and women who could handle the task, but God transforming the hearts of cowards.”—Erwin McManus, Uprising, p. 101.

I believe that we are all a bit like Joshua. We need courage to live the life Christ desires. Lance Witt, in his book “Replenish,” describes the courage that we all can have:

“Courage is not an issue of wiring, but of willingness. It’s not an issue of DNA, but of heart. I have always found comfort and hope in Ambrose Redmoon’s definition, ‘Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.’”—Lance Witt, Replenish, p. 118.

We need courage to live the life Christ desires. We need courage to say “no” to sin and “yes” to a life of righteousness. But how can we have courage? Witt describes it:

“Looking back I realize there’s a correlation between my communion with God and my courage for God. The deeper my intimacy, the greater my tenacity to stand courageously. The more Christ is my life, the less I need to find life in others’ opinions”—Lance Witt, Replenish, p. 118.

He’s right. The more time that we commune with God, the greater our courage for God, and the less we care about what others think about us. Which is why, in the book of Acts, after the ruling council of Jewish leaders saw the “boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus”—Acts 4:13. Why were they so bold? Because they had been with Jesus.

Are you fearful or courageous? May I ask then, if you are fearful, how much do you commune with God? If you want courage, you must commune with the Lord, and the more that you do, the more you will discover the courage that He desires you have.

May God make us courageous in the face of opposition, boldly living a life honoring to God, caring not what the world thinks, to the glory of His great and holy name. Amen.