But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
Job 16:5 (NIV)
| Cowardness by Cathy Vinson |
Somehow "cowardly" seems out-of-place in the forbidden list that follows. Cowardice seems to be a close cousin of meekness and humility. What then is truly behind being cowardly? Giants arise in our lives that loom very big and threatening. We cower, hide, and want to run away in fear. This all seems like such a natural response, but a cowering spirit is not from God, "for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind" (2 Tim 1:7). Fear is then a spirit, ruled by the enemy. On the other hand, the environment of God's Spirit sending forth love is accompanied by power and self-discipline. Healthy love will not flow out to another out of a timid spirit that cowers before them. Where we are timid, we should acknowledge that before God. "God preserves the faithful...Be strong, and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord" (Ps 31:23). Faithfulness and courage would draw God's preservation while cowering and hiding would merely be are own selfmade means of preservation. Stand tall, for when we take courage, we are trusting God alone to preserve us. Let us put down those defenses of cowardness because our hope is in God. We can then exercise our God-given right to be strong and take heart! (Ps 31:24).
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| He who
overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But to the
cowardly... (Rev 21:7-8a) |
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Other Whispers from the Wilderness Devotions are found HERE
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