Throughout life I have confronted situations that require “getting my nerve up.”

     As a kid it was jumping from rock to rock in the American River at my grandmother’s mountain cabin. Also spinning on a jungle gym with one leg wrapped tightly around the bar. (I did fall once so hard it left me gasping for breath.)

     When grown so many more…

     Standing at the top of a ski run covered in moguls, entering a racquet ball tournament, taking a speech class in high school, completing the swim leg of a triathlon… The open water tests to become certified in scuba diving was particularly challenging. Especially the one where you breathe through your regulator underwater without your mask. (Yes, breathing while water is covering your face.) 

     Sometimes I must “get my nerve up” to follow certain passages of Scripture. Such as giving out of my poverty rather than my abundance, like the woman at the temple Jesus pointed to in Mark 12:41-44. She put everything she had into the offering box. I want to be all in, giving from my poverty rather than my abundance. That is trust.

     There are many examples in the Bible of people who needed to “get their nerve up.”

     Gideon is one. When an angel of the Lord told him God chose him to save Israel from the tyranny of the Midianites, he asked for a sign. He put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor asking that it be covered in dew although the surrounding ground was dry. There was enough dew on the fleece for him to fill a bowl with water, yet he asked that the opposite occur the following night. And God granted his request. (Judges 6:36-40)

     Moses also had to “get his nerve up.” When God told Moses he was sending him to Pharaoh to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt he asked, “Who am I that I should go?” (Exodus 3:10-11) To give Moses the confidence he needed God revealed himself as “I AM.” He was all that Moses and the Israelites needed.

     Esther had to “get her nerve up as well.” When Mordecai asked her to go the king to prevent the extermination of the Jews, she hesitated for if the king did not hold out the golden scepter granting her entrance to the inner court she would be put to death. She got her nerve up by joining the Jews in a three-day fast. (Esther 4:10-17)

     So often we feel defeated if we aren’t brave enough to step forward in faith immediately, no questions asked, no hesitation. But God sees something in us we can’t yet see in ourselves, and he is more than willing to help us get our nerve up.

     We can practice every scripture passage in the Bible God wrote down for us to follow. It isn’t us who makes it happen, it is God in us.

     When I was asked to pray with people after the church service, I felt unworthy of such a job. I would need to rise from my seat and go to the front of the church at the end of the service while the congregation sang a worship song. Each time I had to “get my nerve up” not knowing who would come forward to pray and what requests they would have for God. My husband would whisper, “Take your eyes off yourself and put them on Jesus.” That was God’s way of “getting my nerve up” and He will provide a way each time we find ourselves in this position.

     Remember we are in good company. Many people we consider giants in the faith took their first step after “getting their nerve up.”

Let’s Talk:

1-When have you had to “get your nerve up” to do something God has requested of you? Please share your experience in the comments below.

2-Is there someone in the Bible you admire for their faith? How did he or she “get their nerve up?”

©2022 Susan Cort Johnson *All Rights Reserved