Courageous

Courageous 

Rachel S.

“Remember that I commanded you to be strong and brave. Don’t be afraid, because the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

                                                ~Joshua 1:9
I have loved this verse for a very long time. It’s a command from God to Joshua to stand strong even when the world might be crazy.
 
Really, how cool is that?

You see, I’ve been thinking about this lately.  I’m not the strongest person on the earth. In fact, I’m pretty sure that God gave me two very strong brothers for the reason that they can lift all the heavy stuff that I can’t seem to manage to drag along the floor.

Also, I’m not very brave.

(True story: one time there was a spider in my sheets and I slept on the couch. I’m not even kidding.)

I can be brave, (like one time I ate sushi…That was fun…) but just me being naturally like, “Hm, let me go do something crazy and brave!” That just doesn’t happen.  (I’ll hide behind a laptop and blog about how I wish I was brave instead.)

“Don’t be afraid.” Quite honestly, I do a lot of fearing. I fear spiders, falling, spiders, change, spiders, snakes, spiders, and… well… just a lot of things. (If you happen to be small, hairy and have eight legs, I am probably afraid of you. Just saying.)

So when I read this and I see God commanding his people to be, strong, brave and not to be afraid… I kind of just curl up in a ball and die.

But I wonder if it’s more than just being physically strong, brave and not afraid.

Like what if it’s being strong in the faith? What if it’s being brave enough to walk across the room and pray with a hurting soul? What if it’s not being afraid of what people think of you?

Because while there is something to being physically strong, brave and courageous (Like, it’s cool to go mountain climbing and parachuting.) I wonder if God perhaps wanted us to do more than just be able to lift a cow.

What about being strong in the faith? Could it be that maybe he wanted us to be strong enough to press on in the race that he has set before us?

And what about if being brave is more than just physically… lifting a cow. (For example. It works, so I’m just gonna run with it.) What if it’s also being brave enough to walk across a room to talk to someone that he wants us to shine into?

Lastly, what if being courageous is more than killing a bear (What is up with me and barnyard references today?)  And is having the guts to stand up for what is noble and pure—even if we don’t want to or it’s not the easiest thing to do.

Because although there is nothing wrong with being physically strong (most of my family is.)

But I think there is more to it than just that…

Is there something to being strong and courageous because we know the sovereignty of God??
Just a Thought...