What does courage look like?
What does courage look like?
Alex Honnold is a famous rock climber. Recently, he climbed El Capitan, a famed 3,000-foot rock wall that is a legendary challenge for climbers of any skill level. And he did it with no ropes.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HoUDDetAg0[/embedyt]The climb took Alex Honnold four hours. All he had to aid him in his ascent was a bag of chalk. Inch by inch, hand hold after hand hold, with no ropes, no harness, no nets to catch him should he slip… he made his way up the face of the mountain.
Alpinist magazine said, ““This is indisputably the greatest free solo of all time…”
We would probably all say that Alex Honnold is a person of courage. Climbing a 3000 foot rock wall with no ropes, no net, no harness… it takes courage!
But that’s not necessarily the kind of courage we’re talking about.
Faith vs. Fear
There are a lot of courageous people around us. People who are willing to do hard things even when it requires them to get out of our comfort zones.
But there are also a lot of people for whom this is difficult. Sometimes, we know in our heads what the right thing to do is, but we can’t convince our bodies to cooperate. We just can’t bring ourselves to do it, whatever it is.
So what happens for so many of us is that we let fear keep us from the life that God has for us.
[Tweet “We often let fear keep us from the life that God has for us.”]So many times we read about the heroes of faith, people like Moses, who did incredible things for God. But we often forget that every single one of them faced incredible fear. Every single one of them struggled with their faith.
The reason we hold them up as heroes of faith is because some way, some how, they did it. They found the courage to do what God was calling them to do.
A Little Known Story of True Courage
This was true for two little known Hebrew women. It’s just before Moses comes on the scene that this story takes place. Listen to what happens..
Exodus 1.8-21
8 Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. 9 He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. 10 We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country.”
This new king begins his reign by making decisions motivated by fear. Fear is a powerful motivator. And notice what is at the root of the king’s fear… insecurity. The king is afraid of “what might happen if…” He’s insecure. And insecurity always leads to fear.
[Tweet “Insecurity always leads to fear.”]11 So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king. 12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became. 13 So the Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy. 14 They made their lives bitter, forcing them to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the work in the fields. They were ruthless in all their demands.
So the king of Egypt, filled with fear, consumed by what “might happen if…” allows his fear to consume him. His fear results in aggression, oppression & even violence.
If you think about it, this is still true. Fear often results in aggression, oppression & even violence.
Think about the last time you got angry or you acted out — was fear at the root of that moment for you? My guess is, it was. You spoke or acted in an angry way because you were afraid.
Because fear often results in aggression, oppression or even violence.
[Tweet “Fear often results in aggression, oppression & even violence.”]15 Then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave this order to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah: 16 “When you help the Hebrew women as they give birth, watch as they deliver. If the baby is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.”
Fear drives Pharaoh to even more unthinkable violence.
17 But because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king’s orders. They allowed the boys to live, too.
Shiphrah & Puah don’t do it! Can you imagine being an Israelite woman, or young father. Pregnant. About to give birth. Hoping for a girl because you don’t want your child to die. Then Shiphrah shows up. Delivers your baby boy. And instead of killing him as commanded, she places him in your arms. You know, even as a young mother, as a young father, that your baby boy is supposed to die. And that your baby boy might still die. And you also know that by not following the king’s orders, Shiphrah might die as well. You are simultaneously grateful for her courage & fearful for her life.
Incredible bravery & courage motivated by what? The fear of God.
For me, this raises a very important question…
What does it mean to fear God?
The word fear literally means to be afraid, to stand in awe of, have reverence, honor, & respect.
Shiphrah & Puah could have reacted in fear to Pharaoh. They could have played the “what if” game. What if we don’t do what Pharaoh has commanded? What if we don’t do it & he finds out? What would he do to us? What would he do to our family? What would he do to our people? What if Pharaoh finds out & gets mad, kills us, kills our family, banishes us to some foreign land, exiles us to a distant place, what if we never see our families again, what if…
So many times when we grow afraid, especially when we’re faced with the prospect of choosing to do the right thing, when it’s the hard thing, we play the what if game.
And the what if game keeps us from doing what we know in our heart of hearts is the right thing. Truth is, “What if” has kept a lot of Christians from doing Christian things.
But that’s not what these two women do… they respond in faith.
Why? How? The fear of man leads to insecurity. But to fear God leads to incredible security.
[Tweet “”What if” has kept a lot of Christians from doing Christian things.”]18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives. “Why have you done this?” he demanded. “Why have you allowed the boys to live?”
Pharaoh was furious. Fearful people are easily angered. Fearful people hate to not be in control. They despise when things don’t go their way.
I love what Shiphrah & Puah say here…
19 “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women,” the midwives replied. “They are more vigorous and have their babies so quickly that we cannot get there in time.”
Shiphrah & Puah make this up. And Pharaoh buys it!
20 So God was good to the midwives, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
What Shiphrah & Puah did was right. They did the hard thing. And in this moment, it was like they were scaling a 3000 foot rock face with no ropes, no nets, no harness. Because if they got found out, there was nothing to catch them. There was nothing to protect them.
Except for this one thing… they were obedient to God.
Choose to do What’s Right
God blesses Shiphrah & Puah because they feared God more than they feared Pharaoh. They are the two unlikely heroes. Their conviction to do the right thing outweighed their fear of what might happen if they did the wrong thing. And don’t miss this… because of their faithful decision in the middle of a terrifying situation they set the stage for what will happen next. Because of their decision to fear God more than they feared Pharaoh. Because of their decision to do the right thing, their obedience, the stage is set for the one of the greatest stories ever told.
Here’s the point… You never know what hangs in the balance when you choose to do the right thing.
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It was December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, AL, where I grew up, that Rosa Parks famously refused to give up her seat to a white passenger when the bus driver instructed her to move to the back of the bus. I love what Rosa Parks would later say, “You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.”
Truth is, we need more people of courage today who are willing to do what they know is right.
What would you do this week if you believed, like Shiphrah & Puah, that God was with you?
If our lives are not marked by faithful action, then how will the people in the world around us know that God is on the move? That God is still working to show love & grace to the hurting? That God is still working to make right what has gone wrong? That the story of God is still being written & that everyone has a part to play?
Fear could have moved Shiphrah & Puah to aggression, oppression & violence. But it didn’t. The fear of God moves them to a courageous act of love.
The fear of God always moves people to courageous acts of love.
Just look at the cross.
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