Strong and Courageous

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 62, Strong and Courageous.

"Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6.

Picture this moment. Moses is a hundred and twenty years old. He knows he's about to die — God already told him he wouldn't cross the Jordan, that he'd see the Promised Land from a distance but never set foot in it. And what does he do with the little time he has left? He doesn't talk about himself. He doesn't grieve over what he won't live to see. He turns to the people — and speaks courage over them.

That alone teaches me something before we even reach the verse itself. Mature leadership, mature faith, ends by pointing forward, toward the ones who remain, not backward, toward itself.

Now look at the two commands he gives: "be strong" and "do not fear." Notice these aren't two separate pieces of advice. They are the same truth seen from two angles. Because courage is not the absence of fear — it's what remains once fear loses its grip on the wheel. You can feel fear knocking at the door and still be strong. Strength isn't the absence of the feeling; it's the refusal to let the feeling decide for you.

But notice something crucial here: Moses doesn't leave these commands hanging in a vacuum. He doesn't just say "be strong" and stop, as if it were pure willpower, pure gritting of teeth. He says "be strong… for." And then the reason arrives. "For it is the LORD your God who goes with you." Israel's courage would not come from their own capability. It would come from companionship. And your courage today doesn't come from being strong enough either — it comes from knowing who walks beside you.

And then comes the part that moves me most in this verse: "He will not leave you or forsake you." Two negatives, stacked one on top of the other, as if God were saying: I know you're going to doubt this, so I'm going to guarantee it twice. There is no scenario — none, nowhere, under no circumstance — where He lets go of your hand. This is a promise with no fine print.

That exact word, one chapter later, God repeats directly to Joshua — who was about to cross a river, face fortified cities, and lead an entire nation into unfamiliar land full of giants. If that promise was enough to hold Joshua steady through all of that, it is enough to hold you steady through whatever you're facing today — whatever your giant is, your river, your unfamiliar land.

So, my friend, before breakfast, do one simple thing. Think of the specific challenge pressing on you today — maybe it's a hard conversation, an exam, a decision, a financial uncertainty. And say out loud: "I will be strong and courageous." Not because you can do it alone. But because the LORD your God goes with you. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.