The worst insult a man can receive is to branded a coward, yet a man who doesn’t feel fear is either not thinking right or not living right. If a man lives as he should he will face fear over and over again. For man is not meant to be like an oyster, just to attach himself to the closest rock and filter feed on whatever comes his way, but to be like the eagle; to see far, to seek out his needs, to make his home on the crags if necessary, to migrate if conditions require, to mate for life, and to always remember where his home is. In pursuit of these goals, a sane man will feel fear. These fears will keep a coward from doing what he should do, but not a brave man.
The most visible bravery is on a battlefield. Throughout history, whether with Leonidas at Thermopylae, Horatius at the Tiber bridge, Wallace at Stirling Castle, Parker at Lexington Green, McAuliffe at Bastogne, or any of the thousands of other places an enemy has drawn up in his most dread array, men have stood and said, “You cannot pass here!”
Much bravery, however, is not always as obvious or well-recorded as that on the battlefield. Frank Herbert noted that the course of history often turns in lonely places on the simple actions of single individuals. Often these require bravery, and often they go unnoticed. The world would not know of Sampson’s last act of bravery were it not for holy scripture.
Sampson is a story of a life of dissipation redeemed by a final act of bravery. Sampson was given a great gift of strength and spent much of it foolishly. For a man to be able to slay a thousand of his enemies with the jawbone of an ass and then give away his power in harlotry was not only sinful and wasteful, but cowardly.
Sampson’s final test of bravery came when he was blinded, chained, and seemingly powerless. It was then that Sampson remembered the One who gives all strength and asked, with penitent heart, for one last gift of strength. Surrounded by a jeering mob of idol worshipers, Sampson was permitted by God to go out in a blaze of glory in bringing down the house literally on himself and his enemies.
Bravery is not just of quality of big burly men, but of quiet little men as well. One of the bravest men in history may have been a prophet named Nathan. King David was certainly no coward. As a young man he killed wild animals, and as he grew older he grew skilled at warfare, and never shrank from killing his enemies. Passionate about everything, he allowed his lusts to lead him into adultery. Ashamed of himself, or afraid of being discovered, he invested a lot in trying to cover up his sin. His first attempt was thwarted because his lover’s husband was more honorable than he imagined, refusing to sleep with his wife while his comrades were at the battle. So David moved on to murder.
When Nathan the prophet approached the king, David was the most powerful man in a mighty country and was adored by followers who would likely do whatever he asked. There was apparently nothing or no one who could stop David from murdering again to cover up his sins. Nathan told the king about a rich herdsman who killed his poor neighbor’s only pet lamb. David, who still had a strong sense of right and wrong regarding others, was incensed. His passions aroused, he might have killed the guilty man or anyone who stood in the way, until Nathan calmly and bravely stood before his face and said “You are the man.”
To Davids’ credit, when confronted with his own sin in the face of his own sense of right and wrong, he humbled himself. Nathan’s bravery resulted in Davids’ repentance. The most difficult test of bravery for anyone may be, like Nathan, in confronting evil alone. On a battlefield, a soldier has the support of his comrades to keep him from wavering, but when a man is alone and evil shows its ugly face and says, “Accept me or face my ridicule and my fury,” it takes a strong sense of outrage to stand and say, “You cannot pass here!”
The story is told of my grandfather as a young man in the early twentieth-century attending a public speech. The speaker began repeatedly using God’s name in vain, and my grandfather, instead of enduring it or slinking out, stood in place and waited till the speaker paused. Then he said, “Sir, I cannot bear to hear the name of my Lord taken in vain” and then walked out. A man needs that kind of outrage to take a stand against evil.
Our perfect example of bravery is Jesus. We may not normally think of Jesus as brave, but as the passive sheep led to slaughter. Actually, that was bravery of the highest order. As the apostle Paul noted, some men might lay down their life for a good man, but Christ died for the worst sinners. Not only that, but He endured excruciating torture, cruel ridicule, and physical exhaustion before being subjected to a slow and painful death. These all required supreme bravery because He could have saved Himself at any time, yet He chose the sacrifice.
Jesus also showed us the bravery of moral outrage against evil, when He saw people dishonoring God and took a whip of cords to them. A man needs that kind of outrage. A man needs that kind of acting for good without hesitation. A man needs to keep his weapons for battling evil always ready.
Bravery in physical battles is strengthened by purifying the body of things that weaken it, by conditioning the muscles to be physically strong, and by mentally finding the will to fight. Bravery in fighting evil is also strengthened by purifying, conditioning, and mental preparation. Paul compared the armor needed to fight evil to a soldiers’ armor.
First, truth is wrapped around our waist. Truth sets us free. Truth exposes the wrongness of evil and the goodness of what is right. It’s not enough to know truth, however. We must also practice it with righteousness as our breastplate. Evil always tries to seduce us by promising to fulfill our wildest desires. Then once we allow sin into our lives, guilt paralyzes us from standing up to other evil. The Evil One says, “Accept this evil also or I’ll expose every secret, evil thing you’ve done.” Here a brave man will say, “Expose it, and be damned,” because evil is already damned, and because he knows that those on the side of good confess their faults to one another. It is simply a matter of choosing on which side to stand.
We prepare our feet for battling evil with the gospel of peace. We don’t fight our brothers, but bring peace to men of goodwill. Together we stand and fight the evil one. We battle evil by carrying the shield of faith. Jesus spent much time in prayer and fasting preparing to stand against evil. The night He was betrayed He sweated blood so fervent were His prayers. During His entire public ministry, He focused on the battle He must fight. Shortly after the transfiguration He “put on His game face,” or as Luke records it, “He set His face toward Jerusalem.”
Battling evil properly requires the helmet of salvation. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and fearing Hell and desiring Heaven may begin us on the road to knowing God, but as we deepen in love for God and for others we want salvation for them also. This leads us to take the sword of the Spirit into a fallen world. The word of God is a quick and powerful weapon that will change people’s lives, and save their souls.
There may be men who are brave but would not describe themselves as such. They have been taught what is right and when they see wrong they see themselves as simply doing what has to be done. This is bravery. Some might say they simply have the gumption to step up and do what must be done. This is bravery. Some might say they have grit to keep going when the going is tough. This is bravery. Some might say they have tenacity to hang on to the bitter end, as Beowulf did with Grendel – “with my last breath I spit on thee.” This is bravery. Some might say they are narrow-minded, hanging on to what is right when it is unfashionable or costly. This is also bravery.
Every type of bravery comes from God. All the best qualities of men come from God, just as all the best qualities of women come from God. To the extent that we perfect and practice those qualities, whether we are called to use our hands to slay the enemy, or to point a finger in the face of evil, or to give them for nails to be driven through them, we are God’s hands on earth.