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The Power of a Prefix

This morning as I laid across my bed (my new favorite place to read my Bible), I contemplated briefly where I should start reading.  I decided on Joshua because he's a pretty cool guy who accomplished a lot for the Lord and had a lot of inner fortitude to succeed.

 Joshua 1 brings us up to date on where Joshua's story continues.  He had spent time being introduced in Deuteronomy.  Joshua was now being tasked with bringing God's people, the Israelites, finally into the promised land after the fiasco in the desert where they just  ended up wandering for 40 years.  During the "pep talk" God gave him, he was reminded three times to "be strong and courageous".  I'm guessing that there was some fear and trepidation on Joshua's part.  His predecessor didn't exactly have a great time leading and never got to see the promised land.  Moses's shadow loomed large before Joshua.

 God knew that Joshua was capable or He wouldn't have asked him to guide His road-weary people.  He knew that Joshua would need super human strength to deal with the whiny Israelites, plus to defeat the known enemies on the other side of the Jordan River.  He knew the next leader was going to need an extra helping of courage to accomplish the goals set for him. 

 He needed to be strong and courageous.

 Strong: powerful and difficult to resist or defeat; likely to succeed because of sound reasoning or convincing evidence; able to withstand force, pressure or wear

 Courageous: not deterred by danger or pain

 Woah, that is asking a lot now that I look at it that way.  That is a lot of meaning packed into two words.  So now look what God tells Joshua in verse 9:

 "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

 Discouraged: having lost confidence or enthusiasm; disheartened

 Look at the difference the little prefix "dis" makes.  It takes courage from being undeterred by danger and pain to losing confidence and heart.  Ouch.  Pretty powerful for such small string of letters.

 God didn't tell Joshua He had an easy job for him.  He didn't promise him a well-paved road filled with well-behaved believers.  He didn't even give him all the specifics of his journey.  Basically, he got a "Stick with Me, Kid".

 But sticking with God should be all of the courage and strength we need.  He's given us His words to guide us and encourage us.  He's given us the opportunity to talk to Him at any given moment.  And, He gave us His own SON so we could spend eternity with Him.  

 So, one last definition.  Let's take off the "dis" from courage and add "en": encourage.

 Encourage: give support, confidence of hope to someone; stimulate the development of an activity, state of belief

 Ah.  the power of a prefix.




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