Good Courage

“Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.”  Joshua 1:6 (NKJV)

This admonition to be strong and of “good courage” (Hebrew: “amass”) is given some ten times in the Old Testament, plus another nine times using a different word (“chasaq”). The first occurrence of “amass” is in Deuteronomy 3:28, where it is translated “strengthen” - “But command Joshua, and encourage him and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you will see.”

Christians today surely need good courage to face a dangerous world, with all its temptations and intimidations, but nothing today could compare to the challenge facing Joshua. Trying to lead a nondescript multitude of “stiff-necked,” desert nomads into a land of giants and walled cities would surely require courage beyond anything we could imagine today.

But Joshua had access to invincible resources, and so do we. God told him, “Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Josh. 1:9). Giants and walled cities are no match for the children of God when He goes with them, for “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Rom. 8:31).

God did go with Joshua, and the Israelites defeated the giants, destroyed the walled cities, and took the land. And we have the same promise today, for “He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,’ so that we confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?’” (Heb. 13:5-6). Courage is really another name for faith, “and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform” (Romans 4:21).