i read in joshua today where moses exhorted young joshua to be strong and very courageous (joshua 1:7). here are few thoughts:
"courage is not the absence of fear but the willingness to do the thing we fear." -elisabeth elliot.
"fear is faithlessness...a perfect faith would lift us absolutely above fear." -george macdonald.
and for those of us, in spite of all God promises, find ourselves fearful and weak...
"do not fear, I will help you. do not be agraid, o worm jacob, o little israel, for I Myself will help you." isaiah 41:14.
5 comments:
wow I love what you wrote!
Be strong!!!! :)
May God bless your day!
Miss you
reid!
mrs. berry and i have come to a unanimous decision:
WE MISS YOU SO MUCH!!!!!
ganz viele x's and o's!
ak.
great post! Im teaching Joshua this semester for the mens discipleship class and its epic! you should read Deut. 31 in correspondance to Joshua 1 it really makes me understand the true leadership that Joshua had to take over after Moses passed.
I have to disagree with George MacDonald, who said,
"fear is faithlessness... a perfect faith would lift us absolutely above fear."
Christ had real, blood sweating fear, the night before he was crucified. Was it faithlessness which moved him to pray, "Father, if it be possible, take this cup away from me"? God damn the thought.
The difference between a faithless fear and the type of holy aversion which Jesus had is that he was always willing to do even that which he feared, if it was the Father's desire.
Fear is natural; it is a gift given to preserve us from self reliance and to drive us to faith in the One through whom all things can be done.
If there is a place for idealism of the type George MacDonald put forward in that quote, it is probably in fiction. I thank God for the fragility He has set us in. Weakness elevates the triumph of deliverance.
The confidence of our faith, which develops vulnerably in a shell thinner than an egg's, is not in ourselves, but in the wings of the Hen who birthed it.
Otherwise, great post. I miss you two.
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