Your Obedience is Courageous
There’s something special about October. Maybe because the whirlwind of September is over. Kids are really in school, routines have started to take shape and fall has clearly arrived. Things have settled.
The truth, though, is that I don’t feel very courageous these days. This time it’s not because I’m struggling with anxiety or fear. It’s because my days feel very ordinary. Ordinary in preparing food for my family. Ordinary in mowing the lawn. Ordinary in breaking up another sibling squabble and helping another one with spelling words and ordinary in preparing and serving our church community. Ordinary and not particularly courageous.
And yet… there are the words in our passage from Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous...” I’ve been bumping against these words all week. God is reminding Joshua of a command. Not an idea to consider, a command. It’s a command for me and for you too. Throughout Scripture we are called to the same thing.
If you read a little further, Joshua shows us how to live into this command. After these verses, Joshua gets up and addresses the Israelites. He takes the leadership God is calling him to; he obeys. A little later in Israel's history, when David reminds Solomon of the same instruction to be strong and courageous in 1 Chronicles 28:20 David ends it with the clarifying “and do it.” Being courageous and active obedience go hand in hand.
Maybe today you’re clearly facing something that requires great courage. Take heart. God is not commanding you to have the right emotions. He’s calling you to obedience. To stand firm and follow Him.
Maybe today your days feel ordinary. God is still reminding you that He calls you to be strong and courageous; to love and serve and obey Him faithfully day to day. This is extraordinary.
Being ‘strong and courageous’ can feel unattainable though. Are we just supposed to grit our teeth and drum up something that doesn’t exist? I don’t see God working that way in Scripture. He whispers to His children over and over “in your weakness I am strong.” God is calling us to His strength. And how do we find it? Psalm 27:14 gives us a clue: Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage and wait for the Lord.
In essence, with this command, God is calling Joshua to remember Him, to seek Him, to obey. He is calling you and I to do the same. He is asking us to lay aside our fear as a motivation; to lay our pain at His feet along with our weariness and distraction. Then He invites us to draw our strength from Him as we connect to His heart.
So today consider the words “Have I not commanded you?” What is God asking you that you need Him for? It might call for obvious courage to do something that frightens you. It might be to give generously when finances feel like they are needed in your own budget. I’ve been sensing God calling me to pick up some prayers that I didn’t pray in order to avoid disappointment. He might be reminding you to be courageous in obeying His call to rest and to Sabbath. He may be calling you to be faithful right where you are at.
I don’t know what God has commanded you to specifically in this season. But I do know that regardless His call to His people is to love Him and to then go out and share that love, making disciples. Like Joshua, we are called to advance His kingdom. (Matthew 28:18-20) As you prepare lessons; as you love your families and your neighborhoods, your churches and ministries; as you give and rest and pray... Be strong and courageous in the mission of leading God’s people. Be strong and courageous as you faithfully serve snacks and do laundry. Be strong and courageous. It isn’t optional because being connected to the Father isn’t optional.
In the challenges and the ordinary of October, be faithful: your obedience is courageous.