Be-of-good-courage
Short answer: To be of good courage is not to feel fearless but to act on what God has promised because He is with you. In Joshua 1:6-9, God commands Joshua three times to be strong and courageous, and each command rests on something God has already done or will do: He swore the land to the fathers, He will be with Joshua, He has commanded the law to be kept. Courage is therefore a commanded response to God's presence and word, not a natural temperament. The New Testament carries the same logic: Jesus tells frightened disciples in Matthew 14:27, "Cheer up! It is I! Don't be afraid." Courage grows where God's presence and promise are believed, and it expresses itself in ordinary obedience.
What God actually commands in Joshua 1:6-9
The passage opens with a direct imperative: Joshua 1:6 says, "Be strong and courageous; for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them." Notice the grounding clause. The command to courage is tied to a promise already made to the patriarchs, not to Joshua's capacities. He is not told to manufacture confidence; he is told to act on a word God had spoken generations earlier.
God repeats the charge in verse 7 and again in verse 9. Repetition in Scripture signals weight. Joshua had watched Moses lead for decades and now stood in his sandals. The task ahead included crossing a flooded Jordan, confronting fortified cities, and governing a complaining people. God does not minimize any of that. He simply places His presence and His law in front of it.
Verse 8 adds a condition tied to the book of the law: it must not depart from Joshua's mouth, he must meditate on it day and night, and he must observe all that is written in it. Courage in this passage is not divorced from obedience. The man who ignores God's word while claiming God's courage is claiming something God never offered. The command is to a person who will keep the word.
Why courage is commanded rather than suggested
God does not say, be courageous if you happen to feel up to it. He commands it. That is strange to modern ears until we remember that biblical courage is not an emotion. It is a decision to trust a person. When God says be strong and courageous, He is asking Joshua to treat His promise as more reliable than the visible odds.
Commands in Scripture are not burdens dumped on people without resources. They are invitations to live in light of what God has already said. The same God who commands courage is the God who says in Isaiah 41:10, "Don't you be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness."
That verse is not a slogan for athletes before a game. It is God speaking to a frightened people facing exile and opposition. The command and the promise travel together. Where God commands courage, He supplies the ground for it. Joshua is not told to dig deep within himself; he is told to look to the God who goes with him.
Be of good courage in the New Testament
The phrase be of good courage, or its near equivalents, appears in the Gospels in moments of real fear. In Matthew 14:27, the disciples are in a boat on a stormy sea at night, convinced they are seeing a ghost. Jesus speaks: Matthew 14:27 says, "But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Cheer up! It is I! Don't be afraid.'" The courage He calls for is grounded entirely in His presence. The storm does not calm first; He speaks first.
Paul carries the same logic into suffering. In 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, he writes, "Therefore we don't faint, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day." Paul is not denying that the outward man decays. He is saying that the decay is not the whole story. Courage, for Paul, is refusing to let visible decline have the final word.
The New Testament also ties courage to contentment and freedom from the love of money. Hebrews 13:5-6 says, "Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, 'I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.'" Here courage looks like not being enslaved to possessions, because God Himself is the security. The promise of His presence makes a certain kind of anxious grasping unnecessary.
What courage is not
Biblical courage is not the absence of fear. Joshua is told to be strong and courageous precisely because fear was a live possibility. The command would be meaningless if fear were not present. Courage is what you do while fear is still talking. It is obedience that moves forward with trembling hands.
Courage is also not recklessness. Joshua is not told to charge into Canaan without instruction. He is told to keep the law, meditate on it, and observe it. Courage that ignores God's word is presumption, not faith. The man who claims God's promise while disregarding God's commands has misunderstood the passage entirely.
Courage is not a guarantee of ease. Joshua's generation still fought battles. Paul still suffered. The promise is not that nothing hard will happen; it is that God will be with His people in the hard thing. Hebrews 13:5-6 grounds contentment not in improved circumstances but in the presence of God, who said He will not forsake His people.
How courage looks in ordinary obedience
Most of us will not lead a nation across a river. But the same pattern applies in smaller settings. Courage shows up when you tell the truth when a lie would be easier, when you keep a promise that costs you money, when you stay faithful in a difficult marriage, when you speak to a neighbor about Christ knowing it may be awkward.
The book of Joshua as a whole is a study in promise, judgment, and courageous obedience. The battles are real. The failures are real, too, from Ai to the deception of the Gibeonites. Joshua is not a flawless hero; he is a man who keeps returning to the word of God and acting on it. That is what courage looks like over a lifetime.
Courage is also communal. Joshua leads a people, not a solo expedition. The tribes cross the Jordan together. The courage commanded of Joshua is for the sake of the whole community inheriting what God promised. Our courage, or lack of it, affects the people around us who are watching to see whether God's promises can actually be trusted.
Psalm 27 and the shape of confident trust
Psalm 27:1-3 gives us the inner logic of courage in poetic form. Psalm 27:1 says, "Yahweh is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?" The psalmist does not argue from his own strength. He argues from who God is. Light, salvation, strength, these are descriptions of God, and they make fear logically inconsistent.
Verses 2 and 3 then describe enemies, adversaries, and even an army encamped against him. The psalm does not pretend the danger is imaginary. It names it. But the conclusion is a settled confidence: the heart does not fear. This is not denial. It is a verdict reached in the presence of real threat.
That is the same movement we see in Joshua 1. The obstacles are named, the command is given, and the ground of courage is God Himself. Psalm 27 gives that instinct a voice. It teaches us to preach to our own hearts, addressing fear with the character of God rather than rehearsing the size of the problem.
Practices that build biblical courage
If courage is a commanded response to God's presence and word, then it can be cultivated. The most direct way is what God told Joshua: let the book of the law be in your mouth, meditate on it day and night. Regular, unhurried reading of Scripture puts God's promises in front of you before you need them.
Prayer is another practice. The Psalms are full of people telling God exactly how frightened they are and then reminding themselves who God is. Praying honestly about fear is not a lack of faith; it is the raw material of faith. Jesus Himself prayed in Gethsemane with loud cries and tears.
Community matters as well. Hebrews 13:5-6 is written to a congregation, not an individual. Courage is sustained when believers remind each other of God's promises. Isolation multiplies fear. The presence of brothers and sisters who take God at His word helps steady the heart. None of these practices earn God's presence. They simply place us where we can hear His promises and act on them.
Biblical fidelity check
What Joshua 1:6-9 establishes is clear: God commands courage, grounds it in His promise and presence, and connects it to obedience to His word. It does not promise that Joshua will face no opposition, that the conquest will be quick, or that courage equals a pleasant emotional state. The passage promises success in the specific sense of inheriting the land, and it conditions that success on keeping the law.
The passage does not establish a general formula that every courageous venture will succeed. A common misreading turns be strong and courageous into a motivational slogan for any ambition, as though God endorses whatever we attempt if we feel confident. That is wrong because it detaches the command from the specific promise and the specific law given to Joshua. Courage in Scripture is not confidence in ourselves; it is trust in God's word, and it looks like obedience even when the outcome is not yet visible.
Other passages that speak to Joshua 1:6-9
The themes of God's presence, promised deliverance, and courageous obedience run through Scripture. For the announcement of good news to the broken, see Isaiah 61:1–3 Prophecy: The Anointed Herald of Good News. For a focused treatment of the command itself, see Joshua 1:9 Meaning: Be Strong and Courageous. For the whole book's movement from promise to judgment to obedience, see Joshua Bible Study Guide: Promise, Judgment, and Courageous Obedience. For how courage works inside a divided congregation, see What Does 1 Corinthians 1:10 Mean? Context, Theology, and Application.
Frequently asked questions
What does it mean to be of good courage in the Bible?
It means to act on God's promises because God is present with you, even when fear is real. Joshua 1:6-9 commands courage three times and grounds it in God's oath to the fathers, His presence, and His law. It is not a personality trait or a feeling of confidence. It is trust expressing itself in obedience. Matthew 14:27 shows Jesus giving the same call to frightened disciples on a stormy sea, grounding it in His own presence rather than in improved conditions.
Does God promise success if I am courageous?
No, not in the general sense people often assume. Joshua 1:6-9 promises success in a specific mission, inheriting the land, and conditions it on keeping the law. The passage does not tell us that every bold decision will prosper or that confident people avoid hardship. Paul, one of the most courageous figures in Scripture, suffered greatly. Hebrews 13:5-6 grounds security in God's presence, not in favorable outcomes. Courage is trust in God, not a guarantee of visible success in this life.
How do I become more courageous as a Christian?
Fill your mind with Scripture, pray honestly about your fears, and stay close to a community that takes God at His word. God told Joshua to keep the book of the law in his mouth and meditate on it day and night. Courage grows where God's promises are known and believed. It also grows in company. Isolation magnifies fear. None of this earns God's presence; He has already promised never to forsake His people. These practices simply put us where we can hear and act on that promise.
