Are you a courageous person?  What does it mean to be courageous?  I have been thinking about this lately, especially because of a line from a book that I recently reread.  The book was, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, and here is the quote from chapter 11 of the book: “Courage is when you know you are licked before you begin, but you begin anyway, and you see it through no matter what.  You rarely win, but sometimes you do.”  In the book, these words are first applied to an old woman who endeavors to break her pain killer addiction before she dies, but then they also apply to Atticus Finch, the lawyer who defends an innocent black man against a rape charge even though there is little hope of an acquittal.  As I pondered this definition, I couldn’t help but think of Bilbo Baggins from J.R.R. Tolkien’s, The Lord of the Rings, when Bilbo walks down the tunnel alone to face the dreaded dragon, Smaug, and also Bilbo’s nephew, Frodo Baggins, from  The Lord of the Rings, who sets off with his gardener to the Land of Morder to seek out the cracks of Mt. Doom in order to attempt to cast into it the ring of power. 

            As I considered this quote and these characters, I realized that courage is a lot humbler than I ever realized.  I have usually thought that a courageous person has a lot of self-confidence—a courageous person believes in him/ herself strongly enough to endeavor to do something that will be very difficult or cause them great pain.  Yet, courage is not saying, “I can do this,” but rather it is recognizing, “This needs to be done,” and then it is setting out to do it and see it through even though you don’t have confidence in success or your ability to actually do it.  A real-life example would be the second allied bombing raid on Schweinfurt, Germany, in October of 1943.  There was an important ball bearing factory there, and the allies had bombed it a couple of months earlier and suffered very heavy losses, but the Germans had been able to rebuild it and had it up and running after only a few weeks, and so now they set out to bomb it again, knowing that it was too far for their fighters to travel with them and give them support and that they would suffer heavy losses. 

            These examples from fiction and real life help us understand what courage looks like, but it is Christ our Lord who embodies courage as no one ever has.  He certainly “knew he was licked,” before he began, yet he began anyway, and he saw it through to the bitter end.  He knew He would lose His life, but He was also confident in His Father to raise Him from the dead. 

            The Lord calls each and every one of us to tasks that take courage.  This could be having a difficult conversation with someone that needs to be had but that you have little hope will go well.  This could be facing treatments after a diagnosis or caring for a loved one through their treatments.  This could be doing a task that your employer gave you that you know is not going to work and is going to cost you.  This could be showing love to someone or sharing the Gospel with someone.  This could be starting a new ministry or helping with an existing one.  I don’t know when and how we will be called upon to be courageous in our lives, but I do know that God gives us His Word to give us the courage we need so that we can begin and see it through, even when we know we are licked before we begin.  The verse that I put at the top of this page is my confirmation verse.  This verse, or words very close to it, comes up repeatedly in the Old Testament.  Moses speaks them to Israel and then to Joshua.  The Lord Himself reaffirms them to Joshua after Moses dies.  David speaks them on more than one occasion to Solomon.  King Hezekiah speaks them to the people when they are besieged by the Assyrians.  God has repeated these words to His people again and again for those times when they knew that they were licked, but He was calling them to begin anyway and see it through no matter what.  And the beauty of His words are that they don’t give us self-confidence, they give us confidence in God.  He will be with us and not forsake us!  We aren’t called upon to make the outcome happen, we are called upon to do the task set before us with courage confident that God is with us to bring about His plans and purposes.  These can be accomplished even when we lose—even through our defeat!  So, be strong and courageous, do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. 

Courageously yours, 

Pastor Liebich