Thursday, September 24, 2020

C is for ...

 I just learned about Ellen B's A to Z Bible Verse Challenge over at The Happy Wonderer.   Ellen is hosting this every Thursday, and what a wonderful idea it is to help us stay our hearts and minds on God and His Word during these crazy uncertain times. Today is the letter C, and, although there are loads of words beginning with C in the Bible -- including, most importantly, Christ -- I chose the word Courage.  

"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 1:9)

I'm going to borrow a bit from a January 2019 post in which I chose Courage as my word for that year.  The part within the ====  and ==== is my older post.

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 Below you see a dictionary definition for courage.


I thought it would be a good idea to also look this up in a Bible dictionary, since I would be approaching this word from somewhat of a spiritual perspective.

Here is the definition from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary: "the strength of purpose that enables one to withstand fear or difficulty.  Physical courage is based on moral courage -- a reliance on the presence and power of God and a commitment to His commandments."

I like that definition quite a bit better,  don't you?  The standard dictionary definition leaves out God, His presence, and His power!

Several years ago, I studied Joshua 1:9 using the simple SOAP method of Bible study, and thought I would just share those very simple insights here.  The "S", of course, is for "Scripture", and I have written that out above, so we will just go on with the rest of the acronym and see what I found.

O= After Moses' death, God spoke to Joshua, who would be the new leader of the children of Israel.  How amazing it must have been to be encouraged by God Himself!  He assured Joshua that every inch of the promised land was theirs (v. 2-4); that He would be with him and not fail or forsake him; that no man would be able to stand before them (v. 5).  He encouraged and commanded Joshua to keep His Word in the forefront of his thinking, to meditate on it and obey it (v. 7-8).

Here in v. 9, God reminds Joshua to be strong and courageous: "Have not I commanded thee?  Be strong and of good courage."  This is the third time God has told him this: verses 6 and 7 record the same command.  He expands on it here:

* Be not afraid
* Be not dismayed

And then He tells him why: "for the LORD thy God is with thee wherever thou goest."  What possible need could there be for fear?

A= This is the perfect day for me to be meditating upon this verse.  Things are changing in my life.  There are many things I could be fearful about, from family concerns to legal matters.  Literally,  things will never be the same as they were before.  And yet ...

* I can be strong
* I can be courageous
* I need not be afraid
* I need not be dismayed

BECAUSE

* The Lord my God is with me wherever I go and whatever I face.

P=  Lord, how I thank and praise You for Your Word!  I thank You today in particular for this powerful verse.  What a great reminder!  Because You, the all-powerful, all-knowing God, are with me, I can be strong and very courageous.  There is no need for fear or dismay.  I pray that you will help me to keep this verse firmly in my mind as I face the unknown, and thank You for all You will do, in Jesus' name, Amen.

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 This verse, and the need for courage, is even more important to me (and all believers) today, in September 2020.   We are facing so many unknowns, but God is with us wherever we go and we can take so much courage from that!  I hope that my readers will forgive the copy and paste and that these simple thoughts and this precious verse will be a blessing to someone today.

8 comments:

  1. What a wonderful post starting from top and all the way to the bottom. Thank you so much for adding the extra thoughts about this encouraging verse from Joshua. So good. May God uphold you and lead you forward with the changes that are coming to you. I appreciate you adding your verse for the challenge.

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    1. Thank you, Ellen! I am so thankful that the post was a blessing to you. I felt that it was sort of awkwardly cobbled together from a few posts, but it encouraged me when I read it over and I think that we all need to encourage one another in the Lord in these crazy times.

      I appreciate that you are doing this challenge, and will plan to join in each week if at all possible.

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  2. This sounds a bit ominous...change can be a challenge. I know that The Lord will be your All in All. A wonderful post sharing your heart.

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    1. Sorry, Vee! I did not mean to make it sound ominous. When I did that SOAP study of Joshua 1:9 originally, it was some years ago when I was facing a lot of difficulties.

      Now, of course, we are all facing so many unknowns and there are also a few concerns in my life that I can't speak about right now. I feel that we all need courage more than ever and I'm so glad that this cobbled-together post was a blessing to you!

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  3. I am so encouraged when God puts just the right verse in front of me. Joshua 1:9 is what I needed to be reminded of today. Two weeks ago I had a double mastectomy, after 6 months of difficult chemotherapy. I am dealing with some hard side effects from the chemo. Some days are good, and I can say that I did a brave thing and saved my life. Other days, the grieving and sense of loss are prominent. He knew I needed some words of comfort tonight. I am so grateful that He cares and provides. Thank you for this post.

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  4. I think it has taken a lot of courage not to give into the fears of this year. I have turned off news and much else too. I have actually only been reading God's Word instead of devotionals or studies to guide. Just feeling a need to totally focus on Him.

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  5. I love this verse,and last week I started up with our Ladies' Bible Study at church, and we are studying Joshua, and that was the memory verse for the week! God must want us to learn that verse and remember it well for the days ahead!! Thank you for this confirmation!

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  6. I loved reading this, Mrs. T. I especially loved this: "What possible need could there be for fear?" While I know it's easy to say... this made me think, there is simply nothing gained by giving into fear. Yes, so easy to say on my end. When the test comes, let's see if I can remember that. Thank you for putting this together and sharing it all here.

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