I left Sioux Falls, SD this morning as part of another convoy with the American Freedom Convoy. They’re heading to Washington, DC and we were riding a couple hundred miles with them again in support.
Standing out in the cold and wind, we had on our I Will Not Comply hoodies which we ordered from JP Sears. Both today and in Des Moines on Saturday at a freedom rally, we got so many compliments on these hoodies for the important message on them.
One man came up to us and said, “every time I see your shirts I think of the story of Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego. I love it!”
For those unfamiliar, in the Old Testament, King Nebuchadnezzar II mandated that people must bow and worship his image. These three brave Hebrew men refused to comply. They were throw into the fiery furnace as punishment. But God delivered them from this and as a result, the king recognized the sovereignty of the Lord.
They did not comply and through their brave disobedience they brought glory to God.
I then started thinking about other examples from the Bible that illustrated the importance of not complying with injustice.
Let’s think about the midwives who refused to comply with the order to kill all newborn Hebrew boys in Egypt. The women defied the order and saved the baby who grew up to be Moses, the liberator of his people.
Think about Daniel. There was a ban on praying to anyone except the king. Daniel refused and openly prayed to God and was throw into the lion’s den. God sent an angel to spare Daniel.
Think about the foreign wise men who visited Jesus to worship him after his birth. King Herod had commanded them to return to him to tell him where Jesus was so he could kill him. The men defied and went home via a different route.
And a female role model to add to the list, Esther, who approached the king to plead him to spare the destruction of the Jewish people. She states that if she is to die for it then she will die.
The Bible shows us that when the state begins to mandate behavior that is wrong or evil, not only can and should we refuse to comply but that through our noncompliance God will be glorified.
At the rallies I have attended I’ve seen this continues in our modern age. These people gather in cheerfulness and peace, never pointing to themselves but pointing to God. They pray that God’s perfectt will be done through us as messengers.
We must be courageous. Not only because we fight against the power of evil, but because we stand for the God of all good. I pray that I would not comply even if they walked me into a fiery furnace.
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
Ephesians 5:11
Anna Farley 