Original: 11/25/02
8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the LORD that was in front of the portico of the LORD's temple. 2 Chronicles 15:8
In March of 2003 a friend walked into my office and said God had spoken to him-about me! Essentially, he was saying that he had a message from God for me. Now, let me say that I get a little nervous when God tells someone else something about me behind my back, but I trusted this Christian friend.
Curious, I asked him what the message was. He looked at me and said, “I don’t’ know what this means to you Jim, but God told me to tell you, ‘Take it!’” Little did I know that two months would pass not knowing what this meant until God moved us a thousand miles to McMinnville, Oregon.
Reflecting upon this passage I have come to a conclusion. Courage is not a gift from God (1 Corinthians 12:1-29, Ephesians 4:9-13, Romans 12:3-8). It is not a part of some grand scheme of the blessings of God. Courage is not given by God.
Courage must be taken by men.
God serves courage on a platter to the godly man, but like any food someone has to reach out and take it! The man that never takes courage is the boy with Peter Pan syndrome that refuses to grow up choosing; instead, to be spoon fed, “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food. Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14)”
Take it.
Courage is a commandment. Courage is a choice. In the midst of our free will stands courage. Fear too, sits next to courage waiting for a man’s choice. We can wait on God for many things but there will come a time when fear will either beckon a man away, or courage will call a man to action. God does not grant courage. He commands us to take it!
A man cannot hide for long under the cliché that, “God will do it”. Before long this worthless cliché of faith becomes a banner of fear. Courage is not received from God. Courage is taken by faith from men of action, men of courage. Courage is taken away from fear. Just as fear can freeze a man, courage can free a man. We must not blame our inability to act in courage or on waiting, trusting or seeking God (Psalm 40:1, Matthew 6:33). Our inability to act is an inability to trust God.
In this extensive study on biblical courage you will not find a place where God gives courage to a man. Rather, He asks men to take it for themselves.
Take it. Take it!
