Standing Firm
There are certain trials we encounter that are really tough. The kind where we are hanging on by a thread. The kind where we are barely making it through. And if we can just STAND FIRM through these trials, we are doing well! We read in 1 Corinthians 16:13 New American Standard Bible as Paul writes:
Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
In this verse “Stand firm” G4739 in the Greek means “to be stationary, to persevere, stand fast”. Sometimes the only thing God requires of us is the stand fast and persevere in our faith, to continue believing what He says despite what we see around us. The root word here is G2476, meaning “to place, put, set up, make firm, fix, establish, set or place in balance, stand, abide, continue.” We place our faith in God. We fix our eyes on Jesus. We stand on His Word. We abide in Him, no matter what is going on around us- we DO NOT MOVE. We choose to STAND firm in faith.
When I found out I was pregnant with our fourth child, I also found out I needed surgery on my left wrist. Because I was pregnant, they could not operate, so they put my left wrist and forearm in a rigid cast for 9 months. Since I worked part-time on the phone and computer in a fast-paced Telehealth nurse job, working one-handed made life very difficult. When our daughter was 6 weeks old, I then had surgery, and so I cared for our newborn and our three other children with a cast from my hand to my shoulder. At the same time, there were many other negative things going on in my life. I cried a lot, but I still chose to stand firm in my faith with Jesus’ help and with help from my husband, family, and friends. This is just one example, and I am sure that others have faced much more difficult situations, but I felt God’s pleasure over me as I stood firm.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood firm in their faith, despite the threat of losing their lives. Read their story in Daniel 3:10-26. These three were thrown into a furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar, because they refused to bow down and worship his golden image. There were approximately 14000 to 18000 jews in Babylon with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. My question is, what were the rest of the Israelites doing? Why weren’t they resisting Nebuchadnezzar also and refusing to bow to his idol? The furnace was heated seven times hotter than normal. But Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood firm in their faith as we see in Daniel 3: 16-18 NASB:
Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
Having faith to believe in God to deliver them is one level of faith. Having faith to believe in God even if He did not deliver them, is faith on a whole other level. This is what I would call GREAT FAITH. In our human frailty, we believe in God when we feel we have His blessing over our lives. Things are going well, we have enough money for what we need and want, our family is healthy, no one has had an accident, everything seems “blessed”. But where is our faith when we are not living “the blessed life”? Would Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego have said they were “blessed” when they were feeling the heat from the seven times hotter fire that they were about to be thrown into? I’m sure they did not feel blessed at that moment, but they made the choice to praise God NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENED. As you can read on in the story, you can see that God delivered them, but if God had not, they had decided they would praise Him anyway.
This is the kind of faith I want. The kind of faith that STANDS FIRM during trials, that doesn’t turn and curse God when He doesn’t give me what I prayed or hoped for. Another place we see this kind of faith is in Habbakuk 3: 17-19 NASB:
Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
There is not much left that could go wrong for Habakkuk and Israel. There were no blossoms on the figs, no fruit on the vines, no olives, no food, no sheep, no cattle; every area of livehood and provision for the Israelites was gone. YET, despite dire circumstances, Habakkuk chose to continue to praise God. Continuing to praise God in difficult circumstances shows GREAT FAITH, because in order to praise Him when things are going wrong, we have to trust that He will eventually make things right for us. The difficulty for us is understanding God’s timing, because His timing is different than ours. We want everything now. But from His eternal perspective, it may be on the other side of heaven that God will right our wrongs, and boy, will He! Read Revelation for the end of the story, and to see what happens to those who have done evil and to those who have not bowed their knee to the King of Kings.
So we have to ask ourselves, what kind of faith do we want to have? Do we want to have the Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego kind of faith? … the Habakkuk kind of faith?
Moms, let’s make a choice today to
STAND FIRM IN FAITH WHEN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES COME.
In His Love,
Suzanne
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