WHY BEING BOLD IN OUR GENERATION IS VERY HARD - PART TWO

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Jos 1:9 

It is possible to be bold, even though it is very hard. And fear is always the main culprit behind our lack of courage. It is no wonder then that the one word which rings again and again throughout the whole Bible is the injunction not to be afraid. But we may ask, is being courageous being without fear? And the answer is no! No one, even the most fearless soldier, is without a shred of fear inside them – only that it is usually very well hidden so that the people who are not supposed to see it don’t see it! The same applies to parents. No one would show their children their fear, because to a child no one is quite as brave as one’s dad in the whole world!

And so we can hide such things to a child anytime – or to ourselves. But no one can hide anything from God. And part of the reason, I think, God is hated so much in the world is because he knows too much! In our minds we equate him with a snoopy or nosey person. And such a person is always detestable! It is why darkness is loved by many. Because in darkness we can be ourselves and there (we imagine) no one can see us. But we are a contradictory lot. God is open and inviting. He wants to meet us, to know us, to have a conversation with us. He wants us to tell him all, yet it is all that we are usually very afraid to tell anyone. And yet we are born with this deep-seated hunger not only to be known but to be understood!

As a writer, I observe things very minutely. And like a camera there is no place where my eyes ‘feed’ on people’s expressions as well as at a wedding or a burial, especially the latter. I learn a lot not only from the faces of mourners but also from the face of the dead person before the lid is closed forever on their faces. It says a lot, sadly, and it is scary. But what is usually at the back of my mind is whether that person was a very brave soul or a very afraid one while they were alive.

Because we are naturally very fearful. It is why our first instinct at birth is to cry aloud and grope for a hand to hold us. We grow up afraid, and we enter life (from home) very afraid, and some leave it extremely afraid. Fear and courage are mere words. But what a depth of meaning underpins them! Yet it is that meaning, I think, which God calls us to understand – even more than getting ourselves understood. Because it is only God who can make us see ourselves for who we really are. Jesus told Peter he would betray him that night, and Peter ‘called’ Jesus a liar. But in the end Jesus proved Peter wrong. No one was as brave as Peter, and no one was as afraid as Peter! But in the end Peter learnt the truth bitterly about himself.

And we all do that, before we come of age, and though the bitterness can be quite crushing sometimes (leading us to weep like Peter) but it is necessary, before God can transit us from fear to courage. And because it is only in knowing God first that we should really know ourselves, or know anything. And if courage means anything at all to me, it is that. But even above courage it means having real freedom. And such a person always dies happy! God give us this courage!

HopeisnotAshamed