Orig: 12/12/02
With a large army he will stir up his strength and courage against the king of the South. The king of the South will wage war with a large and very powerful army, but he will not be able to stand because of the plots devised against him. Daniel 11:25
I have a few men in my life who I would label as contrarians. If I say it is white they like to challenge that it is gray and possibly black. If I say the local church is the hope of the world they push that maybe the Kingdom of God is larger than the local church. If I like the Beavers they cheer for the, you got it, Ducks.
At times they really tick me off. Other times they spur me on (Hebrews 10:24-25). Regardless, they keep me on edge as sharpening agents in my life.
“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17).”
They are contrarians.
They love to stir things up.
I bet the King of the North had men in his life with the mandate to “stir up his strength and courage” possible through mustering greater numbers of troops, training the soldiers, or challenging the king.
We have all read about men, many of them non-believing, that have possessed tremendous courage needed in great adventures, wars or spontaneous acts of valor. This passage helps us explain and understand why. Some people possess an inner resolve that is mutually exclusive from any belief in God. Essentially, theses men have learned to trust in a source other than God whether it is themselves, a great cause, or another person. This kind of courage is man-made and temporal; powerful none the less. These men have learned to live in the moment and it has served them well. The problem with this kind of self-made man is that he worships his creator. His courage is a temporal counterfeit. Although secular forms of courage are ethically real, Christ is not at the core and the reward for this man will end when his life is spent.
As we have studied courage thus far it is safe to say that the overwhelmingly predominant view from Scripture is that courage is a result of ruthless trust in God and not reckless trust in self (Proverbs 3:5-6). In reading the gospels, Jesus constantly stirs up courage in his disciples, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid (Matthew 8:26)?" He is constantly trying to stir ours as well, but our lack of trust slows us down.
God moves.
Man hesitates.
But when God moves on men, He moves without hesitation. The very nature of who God is must stir a man to trust in Him. Only God can turn the wimp into a warrior (Judges 6:11-27), the weak man to the strong man, the ignorant into intelligent, and the coward to courageous.
Maybe that is what the apostle Paul finally realized when he penned, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).”
