November 21, 2021
Be Strong and Courageous
Find my wife’s grave in the old cemetery in
Wetumpka and beside her grave you will see a stone bench. It was placed there
by a group of women who loved Dean, women Dean loved, women who have suffered
the loss of a child. On the bench are carved the words “Be strong and
courageous.”
The women, whose fellowship is aptly named “Mourning
to Morning,” chose those four words because they were the title of Dean’s final
message to her friends. At the time no one had any idea that she would die
later that year at age 88.
Students of the Bible will know that Dean found the
familiar phrase in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua. It comes out of the
story of Moses handing the leadership baton off to Joshua. Having led the
Israelites through the wilderness, Moses understands that it will be his
assistant Joshua, not he, who will lead God’s people into the Promised Land.
So, in his farewell address, Moses includes this dramatic phrase to the
Israelites, and to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous.”
When Joshua gives his account of this historic
transition of leadership, he credits the Lord with having said those words to
him. He even provides us with the profound reason why he could become “strong
and courageous.” He heard the Lord say to him, “As I was with Moses, so I will
be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” No greater confidence
builder was ever given to a man!
In her message encouraging her friends to “be strong
and courageous,” Dean was sharing the great testimony of her life. For decades
I had heard her inspire audiences with that message. She did not speak much of
Moses and Joshua. She spoke with passion of the time Jesus came to her and
said, “In your great sorrow over the loss of your son, be strong and
courageous. As I have been with Moses and Joshua and many others, I will be
with you and I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
After wallowing in an initial self-pity party,
overwhelmed by the suffering, death and burial of her firstborn, Dean found a
way out of that dismal darkness.
“Jesus came to me,” she
would say. “He told me He loved me and He took me by the hand and said, ‘Enough
of this grieving! It is time for you to be strong and courageous so you can
help others who are struggling with sorrow find the joy I have given you!’”
And she spent the rest of her life doing that. I was
privileged to witness the many ways the Lord used her strength and courage to
encourage others to trust Jesus, as she had trusted Him, to move beyond grief
into a life of joy, fulfillment and service to Christ. In the Bible Moses and
Joshua are described as “servants of the Lord.” That’s what Dean was too – a
servant of the Lord Jesus. She refused to allow grief to color the rest of her
life after David’s death. All because, when He came to her and said, ‘Be strong
and courageous,’ she said, “Yes Lord, I will!”
These days, often when the sun is setting in the
west, I get quiet and I
can hear Dean saying to me,
“I know sometimes you feel like giving up, my dear; but don’t do it! The Lord
wants you to be strong and courageous so get out of that recliner and get
going! There are hurting people who need to hear your testimony. You can
encourage them because the Lord is not done with you! And He will be with you
just like He was with me. Use your remaining days to help people trust Jesus to
help them move through their sorrow. And when He decides to move you up here
with me, I’ll meet you at the gate.”
Some afternoon, when you can spare an hour or so,
drive up to that cemetery in Wetumpka. Find Dean’s resting place. Sit on that
stone bench. Close your eyes and pray awhile. You may hear God saying to you,
“Be strong and courageous.” Your reply could change your life. + + +