I Will Maintain

Job 13:15
“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.”

I was talking to an individual while out soul winning who told me, “I have given up on God because of everything that He allowed to happen in my life.” This person had lost two of their children and their spouse to death, and from what they told me, they were done with God. My response to this person is that quitting on God is not going to make their situation any better; in fact, it will make it worse.

Too many people have put God on trial without considering that He knows what is best for them, even if it means their life must go through difficult times. Job seemed to understand this, and that is why he said that he would trust God and maintain his way, even if God chose to slay him. Job said, “Though he slay me, yet will I…” Job did not put God on trial, and his fellowship with God was not determined by how “good” God was treating him.

If you are going to have this outlook on life when life’s circumstances are harsh, you are going to have to realize that you are not the issue in life. Life does not revolve around you, and you will never keep a good attitude towards God and life until you stop making life about you.

Moreover, you must determine that the conditions of life won’t determine your fellowship with God. Let me ask you, are you okay if God chooses to let the hurt you are facing to continue? Your fellowship with God will be sporadic if life must always agree with your outlook in order to maintain an agreeable fellowship with God.

The key not to let life determine your fellowship with God is found in one phrase, “I will maintain…” The word “maintain” means to continue, keep going, and not change. In other words, though He slay me, I will keep going. Though He slay me, I will not change. Though He slay me, I will continue. Three things Job said He would maintain that you must maintain so that adversities don’t cause you to quit.

First, you must maintain your trust in God. God is still God even when you don’t understand what He is doing in your life. You must continue to trust God that He knows what He is doing when your life seems a mess. Too many think that if they serve God that they will understand everything that happens in life. However, you must say that if God slays you that you will maintain your trust in Him. Your trust in God was right when you were on the mountaintop, and your trust in God is still right when you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death. God is with you in both places; never stop trusting God when the valleys of life come.

Second, you must maintain your ways. Don’t change what you have been doing because God has “slain” you. Don’t change what you believe because God didn’t do what you wanted Him to do in your life. Changing your ways is not the answer to making it through hard times. My friend, maintaining your ways is the only way to make it through the difficulties of life.

Third, you must maintain your God. Don’t give up on God just because life has turned to the worse. God is still God in spite of what you face in life. If you maintain your trust in God’s deity and providence, you will discover that He knows what He is doing in your life and that what He is doing is best for you. Simply put, don’t quit.