Faith Set Free by Will Davis Jr

Author:Will Davis Jr.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2009-05-01T00:00:00+00:00

10

Get Out of the Boat

Prayers for Your Courage

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.

1 Corinthians 16:13

It was, no doubt, a highly unusual command. The soldiers were used to taking orders, but typically their orders made some sense. Not today. On this day, the order seemed crazy. It was a complete waste of time. Maybe the searing heat and lack of water had finally gone to their commander’s head.

What was the order? Dig ditches and trenches—as many as possible, because a flood was coming. Why was it crazy? Because they were in the middle of the desert!

The king of Judah had joined forces with the kings of Israel and Edom to fight against the king of Moab. After a difficult, seven-day march through the Desert of Edom, a rugged area located southeast of the Dead Sea, they ran out of water. The soldiers and horses were weak and tired. If the armies of Moab found them in their weakened state, they would be sitting ducks. The kings summoned Elisha the prophet and asked him for guidance from the Lord. Elisha responded, “This is what the Lord says: Make this valley full of ditches. For this is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord; he will also hand Moab over to you” (2 Kings 3:16–18).

The kings gave the order, and their men went to work digging ditches in the desert. It must have been quite a sight. What happened? Scripture tells us, “The next morning, about the time for offering the sacrifice, there it was—water flowing from the direction of Edom! And the land was filled with water” (v. 20).

Faith and Courage

It took faith to believe that God would send water in the desert, but it took courage to start digging ditches. Courage is the first cousin to faith. Where faith believes, courage acts. Where faith trusts, courage moves. Where faith looks up, courage steps out. Courage is the God-given ability to act on what you believe. As a good friend of mine says, “Courage puts feet to your faith.”

Consider the example of Peter and the rest of the disciples. After a long day of ministry, Jesus ordered his disciples to cross the Sea of Galilee without him. Later, in the middle of the night, Jesus came to them by walking across the water. Peter, in his classic speak-first-and-think-later style, asked Jesus if he could join him on the water. That’s faith. Peter believed that Jesus could sustain him if he stepped out of the boat.

But believing that Christ can do something and giving him the opportunity to do it are two different things. It took faith for Peter to believe that Jesus could support him, but it took courage for him to get out of the boat. That’s the difference between faith and courage: the former believes; the latter acts.

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