Christian faithfulness isn’t heroics or theatrics. It’s the dogged commitment to not give up on God.
If you were going to pick three outstanding Bible characters, who would they be? Here are the three the Lord identifies. He says: “‘When a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,’ says the Lord God” (Ezek 14:13-14). The term “persistent unfaithfulness” demonstrates the opposite truth that our God is “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth” (Ex 34:6). Yet how often humanity takes His patience as evidence of His indifference to sin. Nothing could be further from the truth. Now you see why these three men were selected. The Lord wanted prime examples of persistent faithfulness. You couldn’t do any better than these three. Noah was persistent in his preaching, declaring God’s righteousness and warning of coming wrath. In fact, we’re told it was Christ by the Spirit through Noah who pled with the people to repent (1 Pet 3:18-20; 2 Pet 2:5). Yet after a century of preaching, only Noah’s family believed. Daniel was persistent in his praying, even when threatened with death, and that being torn apart by lions. “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home…knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days” (Dan 6:10). And Job? He was persistent in his pain, both inward and outward, both body and soul, both by devilish and human attacks. Through it all, he never gave up on God! May the Lord help us to join these three in our own persistent faithfulness.