The Courage To Dare

Joshua 1: 7: "Only be thou strong and very courageous."

Theodore Roosevelt's favorite chapter in the Bible was the first chapter of Joshua, and with good reason.
Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Rider was always a man of action whether he was
in the ranch lands of the Dakotas or in the politics of the Empire State or on the slopes of San Juan Hill
or in the diplomacy of the White House.
He spoke gently, but carried a big stick.
He knew that life required courage and character.

There is a discipline of deliberation wherin a person ponders the pathway he should take
and restudies the resources he will need for any given enterprise.
But there is also the discipline to dare when a person decides to do his duty
despite every difficulty and danger.

But to deliberate unduly can mean to delay until doubt paralyzes a person's powers.
To dare when God is for us and is leading us, it is to defy the human and possibilities
until the outcome is complete triumph.

Daring can mean the difference between defeat by default and the delight of duty well done.
Like Joshua, we have need to be exhorted with the words: "Only be thou strong and very courageous."
(1:7)

There are giants now as then, that join forces against us because we are the people of God.

The giants had been seen by Joshua when he and others had spied out the Promised Land.
(Numbers 13)
Joshua did not deny the presence of the giants in the land, nor did he underestimate their power;
but he could not agree with the opinion of the majority that, "There we saw the giants
... and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so were we in their sight." (Numbers 13:33)

The children of God as grasshoppers because of some giants?
Joshua and Caleb said: "Ridiculous!"
"If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us,
a land which floweth with milk and honey.
Only rebel not ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us;
their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not!" (Numbers 14:8, 9)

Daring sees God, not the giants!
Daring sees the promises, not the impossibilities

Daring says with Caleb and Joshua: "Let us go up at once, and possess it;
for we are well able to overcome it." (Numbers 13:30)
Daring finds that there is more danger of defeat from the faint-hearted and fearful in one's own ranks
than from fierce foes who may be as huge as giants.

A fearful majority for the 10 spies reported: "We be not able to go up against the people;
for they are stronger than we." (13:31)
The daring were only two, who could affirm confidently, "We are well able." (verse 30)

The daring often stands alone in a hopeless minority; and learns that one
of the primary lessons of patience leads to triumph.
They learn to dread not the majority that outvotes them nor the mob that would stoned them. (14:10)
Happy is that person who has learned strong confidence of Hebrews 13:5, 6:
" ... For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what men shall do unto me."
Christian, you and I can count upon the presence and power of God.

Daring may be delayed by the counsel of the cautious, but its moment of opportunity will come.
Like Joshua, we stand at the border of a promised land, wherin giants dwell, and we are told:
"Only be thou strong and very courageous."

As we venture forth at God's Word, we find that our real foes are not the fierce sons of Anak,
but rather are the sly Achans with in our own camp. (Joshua 7)
The self-seeking, self-pleasing, self-centered selfishness within us that disregards
the commandment of God to separate ourselves from worldly acclaim or achievement
of any kind for these are the real giants that we have to conquer.
If they're not overcome first within us by the power of God, then we are powerless
before some cities like Ai, not to speak of larger and more powerful ones.

Devotion to duty, obedience to God's Word, separation from known sin, these must precede the daring.
Without them, the strongest heart is powerless.
The real giants are within us.
We must seek God's help and strength to defeat the sin in our lives.
So, we must have the the courage to dare, and to be strong and very courageous
against whatever giant may battle against us.

Then, there is the Jordan, as well as the giants, to hinder us, as it did Joshua.

The giants may represent spiritual and psychological foes that we face when we follow God.
The Jordan may well represent physical factors that may make it seem foolish to follow God any further.

God has brought us from the slavery and bondage of Egypt, and through certain death at the Red Sea;
And He has led us by the fiery pillar, and he has fed us with the unfailing manna,
and so like the children of Israel we have come to know the reality of Psalm 78:72:
"So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skillful as of his hands."

We must recognize that the Jordan is a different difficulty from that of the wilderness.
It is treacherous and "overfloweth all its banks all the time of harvest." (Joshua 8:15)
It doesn't have a bridge over it nor any other passageway.
It is only a raging torrent that terrifies and intimidates.

There are physical factors that make our obedience to the known will of God difficult.
The Lord's Word was, "Arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people." (1:2);
but the Jordan was unchanged by that command.

So now we see the counseling of the caution,
"Consider (that is, let us think this over) the matter carefully from every angle.
Do not presume of on the power and providence of God.
He is leading you.
He will bring you to a bridge."

It is true that we are not to be presumptuous; for even the Lord Jesus, under pressure
to presume upon the promise of God, repeated the Word, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."
(Matthew 4:7; Deuteronomy 6:16)

God had not commanded our Lord to leap from the pinnacle of the temple in order to
test the provision of angelic help.
And furthermore, there was a staircase leading down to the pavement.
However, God had told Joshua to "go over this Jordan," just as it was.
There is a very fine line between fanaticism and self-will and the faith of obedience to God's will;
And happy is the person that learns the difference.

While caution considers and deliberation delays, daring obeys the explicit command of the Lord.
The fearful and faint-hearted do not know the quickening of pulse and the confidence of knowing
that God is with us that comes with the obedience of venturing to put one's feet
into an overflowing impossibility.
And then, to find a way where there seems to be no way.

"And as they that bore the ark or come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bore the ark
dipped in the the edge of the water, ... the waters which came down from above
stood and rose up upon an heap ... and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground." (3:15-17)

That is daring to be courageous.
That is daring to be strong when the seeming impossibility stares in the face.
And to be very courageous when obedience commands means that we put our feet
on the edge of certain disaster.

That act of daring has many memorials to God's mercy as had Joshua in the heap of stones
in the Jordan to testify, "It was here that God helped me." ...

Jericho, as well as the giants, and the Jordan may jeer at us when we obey God.

Why must there be one impossibility after another in our journey of faith and obedience.
There is the fear of the giants.
Then, there is the fury of the Jordan.
And now, the fortress of Jericho?

The reason is that our life is a life of faith, and not one of sight.
It is faith that follows God implicitly even when trembling on occasion, and not the sight
that calculates, considers, cautions, and cringes.
Daring is always on a miracle basis.
Deliberation is on the allegedly safe ground of human ability.

Paul knew the pressure upon pressure of the impossible, even unto human despair,
"that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the debt:
who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us."
(2 Corinthians 1:9,10)

Paul testified, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed;
we are perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not forsaken;
cast down, but not destroyed." (2 Corinthians 4:8,9)

Why could he say that?
He could say that because he knew the overcoming and sustaining power of the indwelling Christ.
(Verse 10)

To walk by faith is to face an unending succession of giants, Jordans, and Jerichos;
and then dare to conquer each one.
Whatever may be our Jericho, it will not jeer at us indefinitely, if we obey the word
and the will of our God.
Its walls may be high, its battlements may be formidable, its strength undoubted,
its occupants unyielding; but prayer and patience will bring it down
before the soul that dares to obey God.

God's methods may not be ours, and usually, they are not.
At Jericho, it was the silent march of the host of God for days, and then, the shout of faith
that brought the victory. (Joshua 6:16, 20)

At Ai, it was Joshua's spear stretched forth that symbolize the faith that obeys and triumphs. (8:18, 26)
Centuries later, the children of Israel sang at the commandment of King Jehoshaphat;
and their song secured the conquest of their foes. (2 Chronicles 20:22)

Silence or shout, spear or song, or any other divinely-appointed manner of service is effective
in the hand of those who dare to trust and to obey.

This is the courage to dare when you discern what is your duty, and to do God's bidding,
and to delight in His presence, and to depend upon His promise,
and to discover his power as we obey His word.

"Only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observes to do ...
that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest ... Have not I commanded thee?
Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid; neither be thou dismayed:
for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." (Joshua 1:7, 9)

" Stand -- withstand!"
" Stand still! Stand firm!
Stand ever sound --
Stand armour clad,
'Tis fighting ground;
Then stand with victor's grip,
The ' foe ' to overthrow;
With holy hands, unloose the bands --
'Tis Christ that brought him low."
-- Evan Roberts

Sermon adapted by Dr. Harold L. White