Courage Vs. Faith (In Search Of Truth, Hebrews 11:29)

(Hebrews 11:29, ESV) By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.


The author of Hebrews just used Moses as an example of faith in action and now broadens the topic to include many others, beginning with the Israelite people who left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea after Yahweh parted the waters.

For the full background on this bit of commentary we should look at Exodus 14:10-14, 19-31(ESV)-

When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.

But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.


The generation of Israelites who left Egypt were not known for their faith. In fact there are numerous examples of their lack of faith in Yahweh that resulted in terrible consequences for them. Even before reaching the wilderness, they expressed doubt in Yahweh, despite having JUST seen a spectacular series of hand-crafted plagues that harmed the Egyptians but didn't touch the Israelites. And although crossing the parted sea involved faith in Yahweh, they had just seen God's angel and pillar of cloud/fire protect them from the Egyptian forces, not to mention the fact that the parted sea was clearly a miracle.

So with God's presence so obvious and a huge helping of doubt being in the mix, why does the author of Hebrews point to this moment as a noteworthy instance of faith put into action?

I suspect that he may be using this event to distinguish between "faith in Yahweh"  and "courage".
Courage is a good thing, but can be summoned up even from sinful motives, such as pride or hatred. Although it probably took courage for Israel to walk through the middle of the parted sea, the Egyptians following them had enough courage to do it, too. But their courage wasn't pleasing or impressive to God. They were out to do evil and God swallowed them up in the water. By contrast, Israel trusted in Yahweh through the parted waters, not their own capability.

Trust in Yahweh is also something that is noteworthy to God even in small measures! Yes, Israel had a ton of good reasons to believe in Yahweh and their faith was probably aided by what God had recently done for them. But even a little faith is significant, and something that God can use in powerful ways.

Luke 17:6 (ESV) And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.


SO WHAT'S IN THIS FOR GEEKS?

Science fiction is filled with humanistic philosophy that emphasizes the potential and capability of humans. I can't count how many times the ultimate solution in a geek movie has been to "believe in yourself". As geeks, many of us struggle with self-doubt, and so themes of self-actualization and self-confidence can have an appeal for us. And while choosing to force down our fear and doubt through sheer willpower can result in some positive forward motion in life, it can only take us so far.

Eventually we hit our limit. We know, deep down, that we are only so strong, so smart and so capable. So if we rely on our own capability, we will only accomplish so much. On top of that, what we do accomplish is likely to have a sense of wrongful pride attached to it.

But when we trust that Yahweh is both perfectly good, and infinitely powerful, we can step beyond our limits. In the last few years I've seen God increasingly position me to be useful to other people in ways I never could have orchestrated. And it seems to correlate with my own increasing recognition of my limits. It seems to almost come in proportion to my willingness to say "Jesus, I can't do this, and it's going to hurt if I try. But I know you're good and YOU can do this. So here I go until you stop me."

Faith is not about willing yourself to be courageous. It's about trusting in who  Yahweh is as a person. Trusting that he's both good and strong enough for the situation at hand.  That trust can result in courage, but the trust itself is what God wants for us, and what often makes it possible for him to use us in some really powerful ways.

Trusting God is still hard, though. I'm terrible at leaps of faith. But so was Israel, and yet God still honors what little faith they had. So maybe you can't take the big leap of faith in front of you, but maybe there is a lesser version of that leap you can move into instead of going nowhere. Maybe just a "step" of faith. A shuffle. A "pivot of faith". Whatever measure of faith you have, there is a way to put it into action. And when we do that, we actually bring pleasure to the God of the universe, and then get to watch and see what he does.

Who knows? There could be a massive body of water in front of you he wants to split right down the middle if you're willing to trust that he might actually do it.