S-T-C Tuesday: Courage > Confidence

January 23, 2023

“Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I’m not afraid when you walk at my side. Your trusty shepherd's crook makes me feel secure.” (Psalm 23:4 MSG)

There are times when we have to go right through ‘Death Valley.’ Not every path in our lives winds and curves on familiar, well traveled roads.

Aside from a few football stadiums, we don’t have many places named ‘Death Valley’ in our modern societies. For the transformational leader, death valley may be an experience more than a longitude, latitude location. Here are some examples of a death valley experience.

Welcome to Death Valley:

• Career change

• Financial strain

• Facing unjust criticism

• Back to school (continuing education)

• Betrayal of friendships

• Conflict

• Job loss

• Sojourning in the wilderness

• Relational strain

• Not knowing what to do next

There’s one thing embedded in a death valley experience despite all our efforts to ignore it. You know you are on a death valley walk when you’re afraid.

Fear comes with the journey to death valley.

“What are we going to do?”

“How am I going to make this work?”

“Will I ever talk to them again?”

The way of this type of walk is always the way of courage. Nothing develops courage like walking through difficult seasons of life. 

Most of us want to feel confident as often as possible. The trouble is confidence often needs evidence.

“I’ve been here before, and I’ve handled it before.”

There are times in life when we’re walking a way we’ve never been before. And as hard as we try to recall memories or experiences to allow us to feel confident, nothing will work. We have no evidence.

When confidence is at a low, we must go to the real thing - courage.

While confidence needs evidence.

Courage needs belief.

Courage is the fuel that allows us to look at the road we’ve never traveled before and believe we can walk it. That our relationship with our shepherd will give us the confidence we need to move forward despite all that is terrifying. 

Courage is the ability to walk scared. It makes no apologies for a quivering voice or a shaky hand. It doesn’t fake it, try to act unafraid, or pretend like fear means less than.

Courage looks directly at the problem. And keeps walking.

The transformational leader accesses courage often. They have to, because being led in this journey will often require a decision to change. The transforming leader knows there are multiple death valley stops on the itinerary for this journey - because it’s in death valley we transform. We begin to:

• Trust God more

• Relinquish control

• Change our lifestyles

• Apologize

• Change the inputs

• Level-set our humility

The transformational leader leads the way in transformation.