Never Give In

On October 29, 1941, Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited Harrow School (a private boarding school for boys that he attended in 1888) to hear the traditional songs of the school and deliver a speech called, “Never Give In”. Churchill’s words to the boys reverberated to the nation when he said: "Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty- never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy”.

Churchill’s words to a nation facing a dangerous enemy echoes the Words of the prophet Daniel in Daniel 1:8: “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself”. Daniel and his friends were facing unbelievable pressure from the Babylonian power structure to conform to the politically correct way of living. The problem with that, is the things they were supposed to do were contrary to the clear teachings of scripture regarding the Jewish dietary laws. Daniel did not give in to the pressure, but with his friends purposed to not go along with the requirements to eat the king’s food and drink the king’s wine. The scriptures tell us that after their stand, Daniel and his friends came through faring much better than the others.

Daniel’s never give in attitude was not born out of stubbornness or a latent “death wish”. His purposed and determined stand was based solely on the teachings of the Word of God. He desired to honor God even though he lived in Babylon. He was surrounded by a culture that was so foreign to the way he decided to live. God still calls His people to take a stand of determined resistance. Even in the face of punishment or persecution we are to never give in. No matter how strong the Babylonian cancel culture of our day rages, we are to be: “… steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58).