This week we talked about Noah. Wow, what a story! He’s living in the most evil time in history…even God is fed up with it all; so much so, that God plans to destroy the earth (and every inhabitant) with a flood.

Funny, if there is any debate about the story of Noah, it tends to center around things like “Could he build a ship big enough? Was there really a world-wide flood? Could all the animals have fit on the ark?”I find it curious that we tend to underestimate the almost super-human courage it took to be Noah.

Why don’t we ever debate, “Could a person have THAT much courage for this kind of undertaking?” I mean think about it. Noah has likely never even seen a ship, and now the almighty has tasked him to build one to save the planet. On top of this, he is living in the most evil time in history, and this evil will no doubt be vented at him and his family before this whole ordeal is over.

As if that weren’t enough, he and his family will have to SURVIVE this horrendous flood. “Have to survive?” you may ask. Well, think about it. What would it feel like, to see the entire world destroyed with a flood. All humans and animals drowned, EXCEPT for you and your family. Talk about an “eerie” experience when you finally got off the Ark.

Yes, Noah was a man of GREAT COURAGE for such a monumental calling. This shouldn’t surprise us…such is (or should be) the nature of all righteous people with great faith in God.  Righteous people are people of GREAT COURAGE. We live on verses like “If God be for us, WHO can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)

So, if you consider yourself a person of faith. That very definition BEGS courage of us. We aren’t daunted by what we see, hear, etc. WE live with confidence in the unseen…we live by FAITH. We are people convinced of our victory through our faith in God…so we are VERY COURAGEOUS. Just as God called Joshua to be in Joshua chapter 1.

Here’s the question: WOULD PEOPLE USE THE WORD “COURAGEOUS” TO DESCRIBE YOUR FAITH? I’m not just talking about courage in “spiritual” things. Are you a person of great courage for life? Go back and consider again, the people like Noah who faced annihilation of the human race, and the daunting task to be the animal-preserving survivor. Or consider young David, who killed a giant with a stone, and the COURAGE OF FAITH.

The Bible is full of people like this. People who God deemed righteous. People who dared exercise their faith to do great, daunting things. They were ordinary people like us, who were COURAGEOUS ENOUGH to do and believe God for great things.

Go ahead…show your righteous courage today! Whether you “take in stride” some strife at work, or bad news from a doctor, or you “deal with” an unexpected crisis. RIGHTEOUS PEOPLE ARE COURAGEOUS…EVEN IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY! So ACT LIKE IT…today, starting right now. Prayerfully ask God to help you with the courage for anything that may come your way…starting today!