As Joshua was looking over the horizon at the stormy waters that awaited the Israelites in Canaan, God commanded him, “Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you may go.” Jos 1:9. In the past, I’ve prayed this passage with a pleading request that God wouldn’t allow me to feel terrified or discouraged – that he’d either anesthetize my feelings or, better yet, take them away. Throughout whatever trial I was in I’d repeat the verse over and over -- often with intense frustration as I continued to experience terrifying feelings.
When I entered this storm, I looked with dread at this verse which hadn't seemed to work for me. But something happened as I was re-reading the passage, and I saw for the first time a two letter word I’d never noticed before – be. God’s encouragement to Joshua was not to be terrified or discouraged or rather not to live like and act like a person who is ruled by these feelings. Why? Because of the certain fact that the mighty God of the universe was with him.
In the same way, he was saying to me that because of who he is, what he’s done for me, and my secure position in Christ, I’m not to walk, talk and live like one who is ruled by fear. I, like Joshua, am forever united to God through Christ, with the Holy Spirit indwelling me and God’s angels surrounding me to minister to my needs. I’m not alone. I’m “more than a conqueror through him.” I may feel like anything but that – isolated, overwhelmed or discouraged. But these waves of feelings don’t change the certainty that I belong to God and am forever in his care. My security is a fact that cannot be moved or removed no matter how great the trouble I’m facing.
I’ve allowed my feelings many times to dictate my actions thinking that it’s natural to do so. But God says that where my feelings run contrary to his Word I can relax and know that they are not the measure of what’s real in my life. With this insight, I began praying through this verse in a different way, giving freedom to my emotions at certain points to peak and crest with the trial, but resolving that in Christ I am NOT one who is terrified or discouraged.
Corrie Ten Boom gives a great example of how feelings eventually change once we’ve taken steps of obedience. She uses the illustration of a steeple bell which when pulled a few times, continues chiming, even after the rope has been released. Though it takes time for the ringing to cease, eventually the bell will stop and follow the action which has been taken. The same is true, she argues, for us as we learn to walk by faith and not by our feelings with regard to everything from forgiveness to other trials in life. If we wait until we feel like it to trust and obey God’s Word we may remain in our state of fear and indecision. Likewise, if we allow our feelings to define the power and efficacy of God’s Word, we’ll often be deceived into thinking that his promises are impotent.
God promises his presence in our lives. Not only that, but he goes ahead of us into future trials and uncertainties. The enemies that threaten to defeat us have already been destroyed by him at the cross, and the battle that’s waging has already been won. As his sons and daughters, our value and significance are immeasurable, and God guarantees that nothing, not even tumultuous storms or emotions, will ever be able to come between us and his love. He assures us that his power is mightily at work in us to “will and to act according to his good pleasure” even when we don’t see it, sense it or feel it. And ultimately we have the promise that he’s working every trial and hardship for our good and his glory. We have this certain victory in Christ, and by faith we can rest upon it.
And feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God--
Naught else is worth believing.
Though all my heart should feel condemned
For want of some sweet token,
There is One greater than my heart
Whose Word cannot be broken.
I'll trust in God's unchanging Word
Till soul and body sever,
For, though all things shall pass away,
HIS WORD SHALL STAND FOREVER!”
Martin Luther
