The Rope That Kept Coming Back

In the 2016 film Hacksaw Ridge, there is a scene that still makes me hold my breath. Private Desmond Doss, a combat medic who refused to carry a weapon, stands alone on the Maeda Escarpment after his entire company has been driven back by Japanese forces. The battlefield is a wasteland of smoke and screaming. Every other soldier has retreated down the cliff. Doss stays.

One by one, he drags wounded men to the edge of that ridge and lowers them down on a rope. Between each rescue, he prays the same desperate prayer: "Lord, help me get one more." Not ten more. Not fifty. Just one more. He saved seventy-five men that night — one at a time, fueled by a courage that had nothing to do with firepower and everything to do with faithfulness.

What strikes me is that Doss's courage was not the absence of fear. He was terrified. His courage was a decision — repeated over and over — to obey what the Almighty had placed on his heart, even when the world said it was foolish.

That is the shape of biblical courage. Joshua heard it: "Be strong and courageous" (Joshua 1:9). Not because the battle would be easy, but because the Lord would be present.

You may never face a battlefield. But this week, you will face a moment where faithfulness feels foolish. When it comes, ask for one more step. He will meet you there.