COURAGE—OR DISCOURAGED?
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We often think of fear as an immediate response to a threat or danger. As such, it can be more of an instinctive reaction rather than a well-thought-out response, and such fear often dissipates quickly. But fear can become chronic. It can be based on ongoing threats or danger, but it can also become an attitude to life, its perils, and the world around us.
If fear is a perpetual, longer-term state of being, it will damage our physical and emotional well-being in serious ways. Perhaps a lesser but no less chronic form of fear is discouragement. While not so immediately severe, discouragement is the destructive grind of our lives and our world that wears on our hearts, minds, and bodies, eroding our faith, hope, and love. God’s “Do not be afraids” are applicable to both our immediate fears and longer-term discouragement, wherever we are and wherever we go. This is the grace God offers to all, a standing invitation to walk with us through all our lives. “The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. . . . Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It’s for you I created the universe. I love you.”* As they were for Joshua, God’s instructions, promises, and presence are the foundation for life-long faithfulness amid the beautiful and the terrible things. But there are also so many days in between on which God’s grace is quietly present, offering courage in place of discouragement.
* Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC (New York: HarperCollins, 1993), 39.
