The Courage to Go Back

In the 2016 film Hacksaw Ridge, there is a scene that still takes my breath away. Private Desmond Doss, a combat medic who refused to carry a weapon, stands atop the Maeda Escarpment in Okinawa as his entire company retreats. The cliff face is shrouded in smoke. The wounded lie scattered across the battlefield above, and every officer has ordered a full withdrawal. No one is going back up.

But Doss stays. Alone on that ridge, with enemy fire cracking through the air, he prays a single desperate prayer: "Lord, help me get one more." Then he crawls back into the carnage. He finds a wounded soldier, drags him to the cliff's edge, lowers him on a rope, and prays again — "Please, Lord, help me get one more." He does this seventy-five times through the night.

What strikes me is that Doss's courage was not the absence of fear. His hands were shaking. His voice was trembling. But he had anchored himself to something stronger than the terror around him. His courage was an act of obedience rooted in prayer.

Scripture tells us, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9). Courage is rarely one grand moment. More often, it is whispering, "Just one more step, Lord," and finding that He meets you there every single time.