Joshua 1 – Courage, part 2

Again the phrase – only be strong and very courageous (v 7). The commission given in Deuteronomy 31 is repeated in Joshua 1. I won’t repeat the comments made a couple of days ago; instead, I was reminded of when this passage became very personal to me.

It was about this time 10 years ago. I was just starting to raise support and the support-raising was not going well. There were some bad experiences calling people so I began to fear the phone. I became paralyzed right after dinner around 6:30 to 7 pm. You see, this is the time that people are home and generally available. This will last until around 9 pm. That is the time when you are supposed to call people to set up appointments. And I was becoming afraid.

I knew that I needed to have the Lord’s perspective; I needed Him to press me on if I was to finish this. And then I came across this passage.

Now you might think that things went better, but they didn’t. Actually the support-raising got worse. But I still had the promise of God’s presence and the admonishment to be strong and courageous.

Eventually the support team was developed. The process was long and difficult; the phone only became marginally easier. I wonder if Joshua ever felt like melting before the armies of other nations, but pressed on anyway. I wonder if it was difficult for him to muster the troops to engage in a seemingly hopeless battle.

There is a saying: courage isn’t action in the absence of fear, but action in spite of fear. Was I fearless in support-raising? No. But I knew the Lord was with me. So I punched the numbers into the receiver. And acted on what I knew to be true.