FAINT HEARTED   Larry W Peebles   June 15, 2018  18.16

Braveheart is a 1995 movie about William Wallace, a medieval Scottish patriot who led a revolt against the throne of King Edward of England.  Spurred by the slaughter of the love of his life, he became the symbol of a free Scotland in his war against injustice.  Through his capture and merciless execution, he stood brave and defiant against the king.

Faint heart is the opposite.  It means timid, reserved, weak, lacking courage or resolution.  The 1962 film The Longest Day captures the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France on June 6, 1944.  With the timing of the invasion hidden by weather conditions, and the unanticipated location of the invasion, the Allies worked with an element of surprise.  They successfully established five beach-heads of 145,000 men, together with supplies and equipment to move inland into France.

The invasion did not come without a cost, as an estimated 10,000 troops were lost in the withering fire from the concrete Nazi bunkers along the coastline of Normandy.  As wave after wave of troops waded ashore from their landing craft, many lost their lives.  However, many more successfully fought their way off the beaches, knocked out the German strongholds, and started the process of liberating France.  June 6, 1944, D-day, was no place for the faint hearted.  Many young brave soldiers had to search and find the inner courage to complete their assignment that day.  The fate of the world hung in the balance as the army of the socialist Nazi empire had control of mainland Europe, and was pounding the major cities of England with daily bombings.  These young men were not looking for a war, but they were handed one, and they had to finish it.

In Joshua, Chapter 2, the children of Israel have reached the threshold of the Promised Land.  Moses, who had been their leader for forty years of wandering in the desert from Egypt to that point, was now dead.  Joshua, the new leader, sent two spies across the Jordan River into Jericho. He needed their report before he would issue the order to cross the river and invade the land God had promised the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  The King of Jericho received word that there were spies in the city, and commenced a search for them.

They hid in the house of Rahab, a prostitute.  She reported (v.8-11) that she knew the Lord had given the land to the Israelites.  She said a great fear had fallen on all of the inhabitants of Jericho, as they had heard the story of the parting of the Red Sea before the Egyptian army.  The complete destruction of two kings east of Jordan who had refused aid to the Israelites also struck fear in the hearts of those in Jericho.  In Joshua 2:11, Rahab said “As soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted [grew faint hearted]; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, because the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”  Jericho had lost its will to fight.  Rahab reported that the people of the city had become worried and weak, faint with fear.  Their hearts had melted.  They had totally lost purpose, confidence and courage.  The people had discouraged themselves by repeating the stories told about the approaching invaders instead of encouraging themselves.  The city fell when God caused the walls surrounding Jericho to crumble, but Rahab and her family were spared because of the report she supplied to the two spies.

This faint heart condition is one we want to avoid, because the Scriptures tell us the devil (our enemy) “prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”  (1 Peter 5:8)  We cannot make peace with the devil.  We may not have picked a fight with the devil, but he certainly picked one with us.  Scriptures also tell us that we must “resist the devil, and he will flee.”  (James 4:7).  We can only lose if we become faint of heart and do not fight.

There are several factors that can cause someone or a group of people to grow faint hearted- to become weak in the knees to the point they are controlled by fear and are unable to function or resist the enemy.  Here are three:

1. We do not know our opponent. As stated above, our enemy is the devil.  Ephesians 6: 10-12 says- “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  Our opponent is not the boss at work, or the person in the cubicle next to us.  It is not our husband, wife, or children.  Our enemy is not our empty bank account or broken car.

All of these things may seem to irritate or annoy from time to time, but there is almost always something spiritual behind that feeling.  It is intended to harass us and get us off our balance and strength.  Yes, cars and refrigerators break, and certainly we cannot live thinking there is a devil behind every bush.  However, there is often a spiritual connotation to the battles we face.  If we first ask the Lord who our opponent is in any situation, and where the attack is coming from, He is happy to shine His glorious light on the enemy to expose him.  Identifying the enemy and where he is coming from is over half the battle.

2. We do not know ourselves. We cannot expect to win the battle by telling the enemy how big and powerful he is, and telling ourselves how small we are.  When God told Gideon to strike back at the Midianites, the people of Israel were living in caves.  They were hiding, afraid and intimidated by their enemy who had destroyed the crops and ravaged the land with their herds of animals.  Gideon himself had said to the Lord “how can I save Israel?  My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” (Judges 6: 15)  God said- “The Lord is with you mighty warrior….go in the strength you have….am I not sending you…I will be with you.”

Gideon did not know or see how he could prevail over such a powerful enemy.  He saw the enemy in the situation as too big, and himself as too small.  God saw him as a mighty warrior, and addressed him as such.  God reminded Gideon of who he was. In his own strength, perhaps Gideon could defeat no one.  When he was reminded he was a child of God, called by God for a seemingly impossible task, suddenly everything became possible.  God raised a large army of many volunteers for Gideon.  He pared down the army to a relatively few good fighters, attacked the Midianites, and routed them in the night.  The fear and panic shifted to the Midianites, and in the dark and confusion, they turned on themselves and were soundly defeated.  The situation reversed because God reminded one man of who he was.  We must remember that “with God, all things are possible.”  (Matthew 19:26)

3. We do not know our God. Psalm 121: 1-2 says- “I will lift up my eyes to the hills [the mountain of the Lord]- where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”  There are so many Bible stories of God coming to the aid and rescue of His children.  He parted the Red Sea so the children of Israel could escape the pursuing Egyptian army (Exodus 14).  He handed the boy David a victory over the Philistine giant Goliath (1 Samuel 17).  Jehoshaphat defended Judah by miraculously defeating Ammon and Moab (2 Chronicles 20).  God caused the sun to stand still the day Joshua fought the Amorites in the valley of Ayalon (Joshua 10).  Jesus, the Son of God, stilled the wind and the waves when a storm threatened to capsize the boat carrying the disciples (Matthew 8, Mark 4).  Skeptics may say these are merely ancient stories, and question whether they are true and relevant for these times.

This is where it becomes critically important that our knowledge of God is based on personal knowledge and not simply Bible stories, although they are also important.  From my own experience, for example, I can say God still calms the wind and the waves today, and He does so because He cares for His children.  In 2016, I was traveling with a ministry conducting Gospel crusade meetings in very remote parts of India.  A hurricane in the Bay of Bengal brought heavy rain to the area, and threatened our meeting.  We knew of the hurricane before we left the U.S., but we could not back down.  Most people walked to the meetings, and the meetings were held outdoors.  Lighting and sound equipment would be drenched.

Though we drove to the meeting grounds and back every day in heavy rain, it never rained at the meeting location.  Our lighting and sound equipment stayed dry.  The people walked to the meetings on dry trails, and sat on the dry ground.  The crowds grew rapidly in size because the people asked among themselves the same question the disciples asked- “Who is this that the wind and waves obey Him?” (Matthew 8:27).  The unsaved precious people of India came under the protection of the God of the universe.  A mere hurricane could not touch them.  God had something special for His children.

I could tell many other examples from personal experience of the times I have seen God’s miraculous hand intervene in my life.  It is more important, however, that everyone have that personal experience with God.  My prayer is that we will ask God to show Himself as real to each person.  I think He loves to do just that.  Then when we know who He is from our personal experience, we begin to understand who we are, and we can identify the true enemy.  Our faint heart problem fades into the past, as does everything else that may have been the case before we became born again.  When one knows the God who is on their side, courage in Him replaces the faint heart with a brave heart.