Never Give In!

Winston Churchill, famous British statesman, military officer and writer, died Jan. 24, 1965, at age 90. Now, 60 years later, the world still owes him an enormous debt for his leadership of the U.K. against Nazi Germany during World War II. His wit, wisdom, writings and speeches contributed to his success in strengthening a beleaguered people.

One of his speeches offers an aspect of character still important for us today. It was an address he gave at Harrow School on Oct. 29, 1941, that is referred to as his “Never Give In!” speech.

The setting for the speech was early in Churchill’s first stint as prime minister. He assumed the office on May 10, 1940, the same day that Hitler began his invasion of France, Belgium and Holland. After the defeat of France in June, the German Luftwaffe began mercilessly attacking the U.K. This aerial warfare, known as the Battle of Britain, raged for approximately three and a half months—July 10 through Oct. 31, 1940.

The German regime had planned to invade Britain and expected the country to seek a peace settlement because of the fall of France and the Germans’ brutal aerial attack upon the island. But Churchill encouraged his nation to continue the war, giving stirring speeches to rally morale. Germany’s failure to destroy Britain’s air force and take it out of the war was the first major German defeat in WWII.

Our battle is against our own human nature and against the pulls of the world to ignore God’s righteous commands (Romans 8:6-8). A few days shy of the one-year anniversary of the British victory in the Battle of Britain, Churchill addressed the faculty and students assembled at Harrow School. With recent events clearly in mind, Churchill uttered these now renowned words:

“Surely from this period of ten months this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

Our battle

Christians are likewise engaged in a great battle. Paul admonished Timothy to “endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3) and referred to himself and his fellow brethren as “soldiers” in service to God (Philippians 2:25; Philemon 1:2). We aren’t to be selfishly stubborn, but we are to be unyielding in our spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:12).

Our battle is against our own human nature and against the pulls of the world to ignore God’s righteous commands (Romans 8:6-8). Satan, the adversary of both God and man, deceives most of humanity into believing that living our lives as we choose, apart from God, is our best course of action.

Addressing this influence of Satan, John noted, “The whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19). Later, in his writings while on the island of Patmos, he added, “That serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan” is the one “who deceives the whole world” (Revelation 12:9).

While Satan’s deceptions reach everyone, not everyone succumbs. A few do not give in. Those who faithfully follow Jesus Christ heed the admonition to submit to God and resist the devil (James 4:7).

Resisting ungodly influences is not easy. Living in a world that calls “evil good, and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20) has always been difficult.

Peter illustrated this through the experience Lot had while living in Sodom. He noted that Lot was “oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked” and that he was “tormented . . . from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds” (2 Peter 2:7-8).

From mankind’s earliest beginning, God has been looking for people who do not give in to pressure to disobey His commands.

When God was in the process of letting the nation of Judah fall to the Babylonian Empire, He lamented, “I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one” (Ezekiel 22:30).

Inspiring examples of Daniel and his friends

Even though God allowed the ancient nations of Israel and Judah to fall because of the disobedience of the majority of their citizens, there are also inspiring examples of people who remained faithful to God in spite of trying circumstances.

The examples of Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, provide timeless lessons on how we, too, can remain faithful to God when we face difficult situations.

The setting for the biblical stories of Daniel and his friends began with the four of them, likely in their teenage years, being taken captive to Babylon. This was in the first of three waves of deportations of the Jewish people from their homeland (Daniel 1:1-4; Jeremiah 52:28-30).

In Babylon, the capital city of the Babylonian or Chaldean Empire, they were trained in the Chaldean language and culture for service to the king and his empire.

Being uprooted from their native land, they faced immense pressure to conform to the manners and customs of their new home. Even their names were changed, apparently to encourage them to leave their Jewish customs behind and adopt the ways of the Babylonians (Daniel 1:6-7).

With this background in mind, consider a few situations where they refused to give in to the pressures to abandon God and His instructions on how to live.

• Dietary choices: One of the first decisions Daniel and his friends made was to refuse to eat the food and wine that had been provided for them (Daniel 1:8-16). They said they didn’t want to defile themselves. It seems that their allotted provisions had either been connected with idolatry or were forbidden by God’s law. What they were given to eat and drink may have seemed inconsequential, but they determined not to give in to the pressure to conform to the Babylonian diet. Being faithful in small things prepares us to be faithful in larger, more difficult challenges (Luke 16:10).
• Threats of death: King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and demanded that the wise men in his kingdom first tell him his dream and then interpret it or else be killed. Daniel and his three friends’ lives were also on the line (Daniel 2:1-13). Daniel requested time to respond, and he asked his three friends to pray with him that God would reveal the secret (verses 16-18). Prayer is a powerful tool to use when we face trials, and in this situation, God revealed the dream and its meaning to Daniel (verse 19).
• Trials of the fiery furnace and the lions’ den: The accounts of Daniel’s friends being thrown into a fiery furnace because they refused to bow down to an idol and of Daniel being thrown into a lions’ den because he continued to pray to God are legendary tests of their loyalty to God. Instead of giving in to the pressures that threatened their lives, they chose to stand on their deeply held convictions to obey God, no matter what (Daniel 3 and 6). And God did deliver them!

The stories of these men have inspired Christians throughout the ages. But how can we have this same type of courage to obey God today?

How to resist

God provides Christians with multiple sources of strength, especially His Holy Spirit, that we can draw upon to resist evil.

To the brethren in Rome, Paul wrote, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

Hope is far more than simply wishful thinking. In its greater meaning, it is a confident expectation in God’s promises that helps us live differently than other people. Our hope in God’s coming Kingdom should be so real that we focus on obedience to God in all we do. And it is through our deeds, based upon God’s instructions, that we fulfill Christ’s expectation of us to be “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14-16).

God’s Spirit is not “a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). God’s Spirit helps us bravely do what He expects of us (1 Corinthians 16:13).

In Christ’s preparation to face Satan’s temptation, we can note two more ways spiritual resolve can be developed and strengthened. Prior to His encounter with Satan, Jesus fasted (Matthew 4:2). Fasting is a tool for humbling and strengthening ourselves spiritually. (Learn more in our online article “How to Fast as a Christian.”)

In responding to Satan’s temptations, we also note that Jesus answered each one with a scriptural reference (verses 3-10). We, too, can study God’s Word to be well-grounded in how to respond to temptations we will face. (Study further in our article “Man Shall Not Live by Bread Alone.”)

Let’s never give in to Satan and the ungodly pulls of the world!