You have a duty – to resolve never to lose grip of God no matter what happens to you internally or externally. I want you to go even further – decide to hold on to God irrespective of how God acts towards you.
One thing that was so outstanding with the three Hebrew children was their faith in God for deliverance before a heated Babylonian furnace. But much more astonishing was their resolve to stand for God even if God decided to let them roast in that brick kiln. That was incredible faith. That was a stubborn inflexible grip on their Creator, whose values, and teachings they were committed to uphold.
True to God’s character, he showed up as the fourth man in the furnace and glorified Himself through that great deliverance.
In the same vein, we read the accounts of the martyrs in the scriptures who stood for God in the face of imminent death. Notable among them were John the Baptist whose head was gifted to the daughter of Herodias as a trophy and Stephen whose physical frame was deformed by stoning. I’m sure they must have prayed and had faith in God’s ability and willingness to save them from the hands of their oppressors. But I also believe that they, like Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego, were ready to die for what they have known and believed.
Eventually, they died, not yielding to the whims and caprices of the most powerful of their day. These were also incredible faiths. Inflexible stubborn faith in God, the Mighty Deliverer.
Dearly beloved, you need to build such faith of our fathers. A faith that holds on to God even when God seems to have given up on you. Yes. Let the rain pour down on your weak frame and the sun scorch your frail skin. But Never let go of God. Let sicknesses batter you beyond recognition. Never let go of Him. Let troubles waylay your vision. Never lose grip of God.
I can’t tell you that he will save you from that specific predicament, but the scriptures assure me that God never leaves anyone who trusts in Him. Believe the Bible. Believe against hope, like Abraham.
Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
Job 13:15
