I suspect that most of us don't particularly think of ourselves as especially courageous. Somehow, the word conjures up thoughts of war heroes or people who face incredible trials and dangers.
In the Old Testament, in 2 Samuel 23 and then again in 1 Chronicles 11, we read about David's "mighty men." Some Bible translations call them King David's "warriors" while other translations refer to them as "heroes."
If you're reading in a Spanish Bible, they're referred to as the valientes - which simply means courageous: people of courage. You don't need to be a warrior to be courageous; you don't even need to be a "mighty man." You can be a woman, or a child, and still be a person of courage.
And so it's interesting to read what the Bible actually says about these heroes, these people of courage. The accounts of their exploits are strangely different. Sure enough, some of them were brave warriors who killed vast numbers of enemy soldiers. One of them was a strong guy who pursued and killed a lion on a snowy day; another was a courageous soldier who killed an Egyptian giant.
Yet there are others in the list whose achievements were not nearly so spectacular. One of them was called Eleazar, and all that we're told about him is that he stuck by his commander even when others had fled; that he persevered even when he felt like giving up, and that one time his hand was so tired that he didn't even have the energy to lift up his sword.
Have you ever been in that place? Have you ever reached the point where you felt that you didn't have the energy to go on? Have you ever felt so tired or discouraged that it would have been tempting to give up and run away? If you didn't do that, if you chose instead to "stick by your commander," to persevere and stay faithful to Jesus even when others didn't, then you're just like Eleazar. You are a person of perseverance and courage.
Another of the "valientes" was called Shammah, and all that we're told about him was that he held his ground when under attack and he defended a field of lentils. Nothing very glamorous about that; saving a field of lentils doesn't sound like a particularly significant achievement. And perhaps you feel that your life is not particularly significant; that your involvement for the kingdom of God is not especially spectacular or praiseworthy. But it's not about how big or small your involvement is; it's not about whether you teach a Sunday school class of six kids or whether you lead a church of hundreds of people. It's about whether you "hold your ground" when the enemy attacks, seeking to discourage you and make you give up. It doesn't matter how young or old you are. It's about whether you're willing to stand strong for your field of lentils.
Faithfulness and perseverance are what mark us as people of courage, no matter how large or small the territory that has been entrusted to us. Are you numbered among the courageous?
Read on below for something that was perhaps even more important about David's mighty men.
