Martha Olawale

“The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” Daniel 6:16b

“If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.” Daniel 3:17

The resilience to the Christian faith is born out of a deep-seated confidence in God, a resolute that is immovable by circumstances or geography. Why else will the Martyrs choose to lay their lives down in place of a man’s defined “freedom” that denies the power of the cross and the Lordship of Christ?

It’s not where we are or what we are going through that defines God; it’s who and all He is that defines Him. God is who He says He is, and our belief, or the lack of it, cannot change that.

God is not some elusive sky being. He is a present, consistent Father. I know God because I’ve experienced His presence in the most challenging seasons of my life and enjoyed the most beautiful dance around my world with Him. He is that friend that never leaves yet never loses His welcome. Each morning with Christ brings a newness of strength and vigor to my life, and He’s the reason my world has meaning.

I have walked through some stressful roads, places where no one else can thread with me, where I felt my heart would give way, and my world would come crumbling down before my eyes. While the world around me keeps moving on, in those moments, God stays consistent and holds me through the days and nights. I know God because I’ve seen Him steadfast in seasons that push my humanity to the brim of the cliff.

As a child of God, if you’ve ever been pushed against a wall and found yourself breakthrough it, then you know God is not defined by or bow to circumstances. If you’ve been overwhelmed by exhaustion because of situations within and beyond your control and somehow end up on the winning side, then you know God never fails. If you’ve enjoyed the peace that passes understanding and you feel swaddled by a hand you can’t see, then you know that even if all you have is taken from you, God is always enough.

There are no tides high enough to drown the calming presence of God or darkness so thick that it can overcome His glory. It took knowing God, for Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to defile a king’s decree to honor the King of kings. There is so much more to knowing God that all the pressure in the world can’t pull you away once you’ve experienced Him.