What Is Courage?

Are you brave? Do you have courage? Many children think that being brave means you are never afraid, but that is not true. Some people say that they aren’t afraid of anything, but the test is when trouble comes. What would they do if they met a lion? Thoughts of fear or concern come to everyone. Maybe you don’t like the dark, or being alone, or soap bubbles in your eyes. That is fine. But what are you going to do about it? That is what makes the difference.

Courage is a choice. God told Joshua, “Be strong and of a good courage.”* (Joshua 1:6,9,18) Joshua didn’t feel brave or able to conquer the land of Caanan, so how could he have courage? Because God had given him the job and said “I will be with you.”* (Joshua 1:5) Joshua had a choice to think about how hard the job was or how big and strong God was. Which way would give him courage?

The Bible tells us of “mighty men of valor”* (Joshua 1:14) who did many brave things. Do you think that they were born with courage? No! They made choices to look at the difficulties and say “It can be done!” David faced Goliath with courage because he remembered how God had helped him before. Everyone else was afraid because they thought of how dangerous the giant was. If we look at how scary our troubles are, do you think we will have more courage or less? Let us be like David and say, “The Lord is my helper!” Is there anything too hard for Him?

Courage starts with conquering the little things. Maybe it is the toys you must pick up or something hard that you have to do by yourself. Does it look too difficult? It is time to get some courage. Where are you going to look for it? Not in the big easy chair reading about heroes. Not by staring at the mess until it seems like a mountain. Where then? By saying, “It can be done—and I will do it now, by God’s help!” Give a war whoop and dive in! You will come out braver, wearing a badge of courage.