The Courage to Begin When You Know You're Licked

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a Black man falsely accused of a crime in 1930s Alabama. Atticus knows he will lose. The jury has already made up its mind before the trial begins. His children will be mocked, his reputation dragged through the red dirt of Maycomb County. And still, he stands up in that courtroom.

Earlier in the novel, Atticus tells his daughter Scout something she will carry for the rest of her life: "Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what."

That line could have come straight from Scripture. Think of Moses standing before Pharaoh with nothing but a staff and a stutter. Think of Esther walking into the throne room uninvited, saying, "If I perish, I perish." Think of a carpenter from Nazareth setting His face toward Jerusalem, knowing exactly what waited there.

Biblical courage has never been the absence of fear or the guarantee of victory. It is obedience that moves forward when the outcome looks impossible, because the One who calls us is faithful.

You may be facing something right now where the odds are stacked against you. The diagnosis is bad. The relationship feels beyond repair. The calling feels too big. El Shaddai does not ask you to win before you begin. He asks you to begin, and He walks with you through every step of what follows.