Speaker: Bonnie Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living

In those days there was no king in Israel.  Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.  Judges 21:25 

 

The Russian writer and historian, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, believed that one of the clearest indications of spiritual and moral decadence is a lack of courage, in personal lives and in government.  Decades ago, the Nobel laureate said, “A decline in courage may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days.   The Western world has lost its civil courage . . . in each country, each government, each political party and, of course, in the United Nations.”

Courage is in short supply today.  The British magazine, The Spectator, reports statistics on 17 European nations showing that, on average, only 40% of Europeans are willing to fight to defend their country.  But in times of war or chaos there have always been people on both sides who stand out as men and women of intense courage.

One such American was known for his heroic courage in the Vietnam War.  The United States Senator, John McCain, was the embodiment of a war hero to millions of Americans. McCain was called one of the “most courageous men of the century” and was lauded for his “deep patriotism and outstanding bravery” by Americans on both sides of the political aisle.  Shot down from his plane over Hanoi, he was captured, denied medical care and horrendously tortured as a prisoner of war for five and a half years.  Two years were spent in solitary confinement. When his captors learned that he was the son and grandson of Navy Admirals, McCain was offered, but rejected, early release to avoid demoralizing his fellow prisoners of war.

But courage can also be found in the lives of common, ordinary people who simply stand up for what they believe is right.  We see it in the 80-year-old senior citizen who walked with a cane, who was passing by a darkened alley and heard the screams of a woman who was being molested.  Without thought of personal safety, the elderly woman turned into the alley and began beating the attacker with her cane and he was ultimately captured.  When people asked, “Weren’t you afraid that you might be hurt?” she replied, “I’m tired of people hurting other people and I felt that I had to do something.”

Have you ever pondered the question, “What is it that makes somebody do something heroic?  What is the ingredient that some seem to have, whereas others quickly walk away from the darkened alley, not wanting to be involved?”

Our English word courage comes from a French word that means “heart.”  And when people manifest courage, I am convinced that it is usually the immediate even unconscious, response which comes from convictions in the heart as to matters of right and wrong.  People of intense courage are usually individuals who have unwavering ideas of right and wrong, of truth and falsehood, of justice and injustice because they are founded on something stronger than personal opinion.

What moral compass gives a reference point for the average man or woman today? Our own ideas, not, the God of the Bible, inform what we believe to be right, wrong, valuable or worthless.  In the words of the Book of Judges, in the Old Testament, when every man does that which is right in his own eyes, few care enough to stick their necks out for other people.

What about courage in your personal life

 

Resource reading: 1 Samuel 17:1-58