Spiritual Courage: Building While Armed for Battle

The Psalmist commands, "Be of good courage." But what heavy labors demand such fortitude? Consider the work of mortification—to pluck out our eyes, to chop off our hands, to cut off our feet. Only a man of stout spirit, not a milksop, will accomplish this massacre of fleshly lusts. It is like mangling and dismembering one's own body, as Christ and the Apostle Paul express it.

Beyond this inner warfare lie outward strongholds to be battered, fortifications demolished. Mountains must be leveled, trenches dug, valleys filled. The hills of heaven's way demand climbing; craggy rocks must be overcome. Without courage, the work entrusted to our hands will never be discharged.

Consider Nehemiah rebuilding Jerusalem's walls and re-edifying the temple. A man of brave spirit alone could undertake such weighty services. His workers exemplified true Christian labor: "They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens...every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded" (Nehemiah 4:17-18). While constructing, they remained armed for war.

The Christian's reformation demands identical courage—building the temple of holiness while vigilant against spiritual assault. Courage is not the absence of struggle but the steadfast resolve to continue the Lord's work despite opposition.