Spiritual Tenacity: Examples from Scriptures

I introduced the topic of spiritual tenacity by referencing a recent sermon by our Associate Pastor, Rev. Richard Hall, at Calvary Baptist Church of York, PA. This post digs a little deeper into the topic by looking at several examples of tenacity from the Bible.

As I noted in the first post in this thread, my visual image of tenacity was the image of holding onto someone or something for dear life. It is a picture of hanging on with all of one’s strength, even in the face of overwhelming odds.

The first image that Pastor Hall painted for us was the image of the martyrs, the righteous saints of God dying for their faith. This image came right out of the letter to the church at Ephesus in Revelations, chapter 2:

 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. (Rev 2:10, KJV)

If a follower of Christ is faithful unto the death, besides the crown of life what awaits them? In Revelations chapter 6 we are told that they will be given white robes.  They will also remain at the altar and rest in the Lord until all the company of martyrs is complete.

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held…And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. (Rev 6:9 & 11, KJV)

Therefore, what awaits  martyrs? Besides eternal life in heaven, there are three specific things. The first is a crown of life, which they gladly give back to the Savior. The second is a white robe which signifies being clean and free from the dirt of sin, and which stands in stark contrast to the deep crimson of the Savior’s blood which is the cleansing agent. The third thing is rest under the altar of God, which is in complete contrast with the state of their lives on earth leading up to their martyrdom. They are free of concern and pain.

If tenacity is the act of hanging on in the face of opposition, then there are two examples of tenacity that just jump off the pages of scripture at me. The first is the picture of Jacob wrestling with God, in Genesis 32:

And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. (Genesis 32:24 – 30 KJV)

In the middle of the night Jacob is alone waiting for Esau who is coming to meet him. Since Jacob is worried that Esau is coming to destroy him and his family because of all that he had done to Esau, Jacob sends his family to the safety of the other side of the river. While waiting alone a man approaches and starts wrestling with Jacob. Is it real or a dream? For Jacob the exertion and the results are real.  Jacob showed the tenacity to hang onto God for a blessing, and God rewarded him for it.

The second picture is the picture of the eternal security of those in the hands of God. In the gospel of John, Jesus replying to a direct question from unbelieving Jews as to whether He was the Christ, says,

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one. (John 10: 27-30, KJV)

Paul reinforces this teaching in his letter to the church in Rome.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8: 35 – 39, KJV)

This idea of the tenacity of God, holding onto His sheep or children is not just a New Testament idea. We also find it in the Psalms. Psalm 73 is labeled as a Psalm or song of Asaph, the first music director of the temple singers. Asaph’s name means the gatherer. Asaph could have been the author, transcriber or just the collector. In this Psalm we read

Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works. (Psalms 73:23-28, KJV)

Again we see the picture of God tenaciously holding the hand of His children and followers. David echos this picture in Psalm 139:

Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. (Psalms 139:5-10, KJV)

The picture of God tenaciously holding onto His children and His children tenaciously holding onto Him is all throughout the Bible. Returning to Pastor Hall’s sermon, he used a second word to describe the reciprocal relationship that God desires with his children.

That word was resolute. Pastor Hall used the example of Abraham Lincoln in his resolute desire to end slavery and to preserve the union. I had my own pictures of resolute. As I mentioned in the first post in this thread,  I have spoken about resolve in earlier posts, “Aphasia is not the end of the world”  and “Epilepsy is not the end of the world.”  

In these posts I told the story of the H.M.S. Resolute that was caught in the ice in Northern Canada in the bay that was later to be known as Resolute Bay. It was a story of determined survival. For me, the word resolute carries with it the picture of determination, persistence, and especially determined persistence. In my next post in this thread, I will further address this concept that is closely related to tenacity.