“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 1:6

When we were contemplating having children, my husband and I already knew the name we wanted for a girl.  If we had a boy, there were three names that we liked.  Unable to narrow them down, we waited to decide until that fateful day God graced us with a baby boy.  His birth was a bit frightening and difficult, and even though I was not able to see him, I knew in my heart somehow his name was to be Joshua.  As they wheeled me out of surgery and towards a recovery room, my husband hurried to my side, returning for a brief moment, from where they had swept our little boy to.  He exclaimed, “Oh Michelle, he is so beautiful!  He reached up and grabbed hold of my finger.  I think his name should be Joshua.”  I smiled, as best as I could, and nodded in full agreement.

It was five years later as we visited a school that the principal asked our son’s name. “Joshua,” we said.  He laughed and looked at Josh and said, “You know that is a good name! Joshua, in the Bible, was a great leader.  You have big shoes to fill someday, young man!”

Joshua was one of the few young men who was brave enough to believe God and tell Moses that they could conquer a land full of those who seemed so much tougher and bigger than them.  It was only him and one other who found the courage and faith to trust that all things are possible when God is on your side.  It was Joshua, when Moses passed on, who became the leader of the Israelites.  The one who would take them into the land God had promised; the land Moses had only ever seen from a distance.

What I find so interesting in his story, Joshua’s, is that God repeatedly told him, “Be strong! Do not be afraid!”  In the beginning of it, this mantra is conveyed over and over again. Why? It appears that most of us were taught that Joshua was brave, or so it seemed.  But is that really a fair assertion?  That he was just automatically brave and unafraid. That he moved into this role, and into that land, without any fear whatsoever?

I don’t think so.  When God brings a message repeatedly, He does so for a reason.  He knows His servants will become afraid.  He understands that parts of life are scary and uncertain. He, Himself, has designed us to feel fear, especially in transitions and times that are unpredictable and unsettled.  Here the tribe of Israel was going through a monumental change, and Joshua knew all too well that he had “big shoes to fill”.  He also knew how darn stubborn the people, he was being asked to lead, could be.  He was headed into a land where change was going to be as abundant as anything else that lived there. And change, we, humans almost never accept easily.

So many times, when we are moving out of something we have grown comfortable with, our fears rise tall.  Our courage sinks low.  Our path becomes a bit unclear, and the noise in our heads and hearts sometimes fills us with dismay tempting us with disobedience and departure to an easier route in lieu of the seemingly difficult one ahead.  Joshua was no stranger to those temptations, or God wouldn’t have been repeatedly shoring him up with encouragement that he had strength available to him. He could find the courage. He could figure things out and not let dismay win the day.  All he had to remember was that God was with him wherever he went, that His word was available to him day and night to think on, and that careful observance and obedience would lead to success.

The other day I was in the Word and came across how important it is to be “strong”.  As I so often like to do I looked up the definition, but this time, what struck me were the antonyms.  God often asks us to be strong in whatever He is leading us towards, and knowing what that means is important.  But understanding where strength doesn’t lie is as equally important for it is in that wisdom where we will be able to rout out the easy untruths of what we perceive as strong enough and move towards becoming truly stronger.  Strong’s antonyms are:

feeble, infirm, unhealthy, unpowerful, weak;

 

agreeable, complacent, easy-going, irresolute, laid-back, uncaring, indistinct, mistakable, obscure, vague;

 

mild, moderate, delicate, low, pale, soft.  (www.dictionary.com/strong)

The interesting thing about “feeble” is that it is not just limited to physical frailness. We can be feeble when we lack moral resolve or even intellectual comprehension. Feebleness can result when something is lacking in loudness, brightness and distinction.  When it lacks force, strength or effectiveness in what is being attempted.

Now how can we apply that to our everyday lives?  Being feeble doesn’t mean it is the end of the story.  Sometimes adjustments can be made to give those weaker moments more strength, more loudness, more effectiveness, more brightness.  Hence, what God was doing for Joshua.  Giving him strength to face the challenges ahead with reassurances that what he would find what he needed if he just continued to persevere.

We live in an age where technology has put an overwhelming amount of knowledge literally in our hands.  If we are weak on a subject matter, we can dig in and see what we can learn.  From there, we hold the ability to hunt down the sources and verify their truth. We have a multitude of resources at our fingertips to help weigh the options and opinions. Further, we can enroll in courses at a local community college or even through our hometown venues, such as a library, that offer simple classes on subjects that increase our knowledge.  We are not meant to be trapped in mental feebleness; we just have to be willing to become stronger mentally when we can.

Most of the time, we are not truly stuck in feebleness of any kind. When our bodies shed the ability to function the way we want, or are accustom to, our minds can pray and think to the benefit of others as well as to ourselves.  All it requires is mental strength and courage to find an alternative to whatever it is that is holding us back in believing that we are too weak, infirm, unhealthy, or unpowerful.

Can you take a moment and see how faced with feeling weak, we may find our fear growing?  Can you understand how feebleness and fear become great friends?  When you feel weak, it is fear that tells you that you are not strong enough to overcome.  When you feel afraid, it is weakness that tells you that embracing your fear makes you safer and stronger.

Ah, can we hear the choruses, then, of agreeableness, complacency, and an easy-going, laid-back attitude singing praises to the power of your fear to keep you where you are? So many times, we act uncaring, irresolute and vague to hold at bay any commitment that might be being asked of us.  Being indistinct from the crowd lulls us into believing and embracing our fears as if they were a soft loving god beckoning us to stay willingly within their bonds.

We pursue mild and moderate so as to not aggravate what we dread, and thus, keep ourselves low in the need for strength and courage.  We may even think that life is so delicate, so pale and so soft that where God is calling us to makes no sense to travel towards.  Choosing, instead, to believe it is unnecessary in our limited wisdom, as we cling to what it takes to keep us where we are.

The antonyms of strong are truly some of the best friends any fear can find.  Most of them require no commitment, no exertion, no mental power or vigor the way that strength and courage does.  They don’t ask for influence for they are agreeable and easy-going.  They do not need resources or force to bring about good change because they are uncaring and irresolute about goals.  They don’t resist or rise up to challenge wrong because they are glad to be without power.  They don’t need to be strenuous or energetic to propel them in the right direction because they are okay with being complacent in health, life and relationships.  There is no intensity, no loudness, no bright light shining; fear, and its friends, are more than okay with us being pale and indistinct to the world that exists around us.  In fact, they thrive in the absence of strength and courage.

So know that fear loves the antonyms of strong.  Where it can flame their presence in your life, it will.  Fear knows such friends will only aid you staying resolutely where you are and not where God is leading.  And the more friends fear can find, the more power it will have over you.

Hence, why as Joshua transitioned into his new role and onto his new adventure, he needed to understand that strength and courage would be crucial–his greatest mental allies–in moving forward.  Embracing, holding, coddling, and clinging to his fear that he would not be able to lead like Moses, or that he would be unable to guide these people away from their liking for disobedience, would mean failure for sure.  God didn’t chasten him for feeling fear, rather He instructed him not to embrace it.  He presented him with an alternative:  “Be strong.”  Believe it. Know you are capable.  Trust that you have been designed with as much strength as you feel fear.  He didn’t say to Joshua, “I will make you strong.” Rather, He empowered him to be the opposite of what he was feeling, weak and unable.

Remove the fear that hampers you by disconnecting its friends in your life.  There you will find it weaken and with each step out of those trappings, you will discover new strength, courage and hope.  God is walking with you and will provide all that you need for the journey that lies ahead, as it is likely you, too, will also be called to step away from that which frightens you.

“Only be strong and courageous.”  Joshua 1:18