The news is dire. According to this report, published on November 3rd, the Nigerian school girls who were abducted have been married off, and are now in their “marital homes.” Boko Haram’s leader, Abubukar Shekau, announced this in one of the terrorist group’s videos, and mocked any effort to try to find and free them.
What kind of response are we to have to this news? Are we to believe it? Are we to believe that the leader of the Boko Haram’s words are more trustworthy than the promises of God? This is indeed a tough place to be in– a place that says any and all hope is dashed, that all efforts to keep up morale are futile. Yet, in this time of extreme discouragement, waiting and hoping upon the Lord is still not a lost cause. As the Psalmist writes:
“Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.”
(Psalm 43:5, NIV)
This scripture speaks of holding onto hope. But how can one keep hoping and waiting upon the Lord in such discouraging circumstances? To keep up hope, one must place their hope in the one who is unchanging. Laying our belief on the rock of God’s Word instead of on the shifting sand of circumstance ensures that our hope will not waiver or be removed, as is relayed in the parable of the man who built his home on the rock:
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24-25, NIV)
Because this man knew God’s Word and believed it to be true, he built his life on it, and his life’s hope, peace, love and joy were therefore unshakable. When we put our hopes into Christ’s words, we can also be unshakable in our hope.
“But AnnaLee,” you may ask, “How can you still believe they’ll be free if it’s been reported that the girls have already been married off?” Is it just wishful thinking?
I know how these promises sound. At this point, it may even seem insane. Yet, my hope for the release/escape of these girls is unbroken. God has promised it; therefore, He will come through on His promises.
From a purely rational standpoint, their escape or release is also not entirely impossible, either. In the case of this news actually being true (for we do not know the truth without question, as news concerning the girls has been so varied and ever-changing), one can still believe in their rescue because “with God, all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26, NIV). When God promised the release of these girls all those months ago, never did He say that it would happen according to our time or in our ways. He did not promise that it’d be plastered on a headline or announced during the evening news. He did, however, promise that each and every girl would be saved, freed– and that their identities would not be formed by this tragedy, but by them belonging to Christ. Albeit it might be seriously difficult to believe, these girls can still be rescued or freed from their “marital homes,” and not all is lost. In light of these promises founded in God’s Word, my faith– our faith, truly– remains unshaken, and our hope untarnished.
Because when God says something, He means it. I now leave you with this encouraging benediction:
“Blessed [are they] who [have] believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to [them]!”
(Luke 1:45, NIV)
Please be praying for these girls, whether they be in their own “marital homes” or are still in camps. Pray that their faith in the Lord would only grow to be stronger, and that the Lord would use them in mighty ways to bring their captors and/or husbands to the saving knowledge of Christ as their Lord ans Savior.
Pray also for members of the Boko Haram (BH), that the Lord would continue to soften their hearts and minds as they keep these girls in captivity, and that the heart of Shekau would be radically changed by the Love of Christ.
Pray for the girls’ families, most of whom have lost hope of ever seeing their daughters, sisters, and friends again; pray that these heartbroken men and women would hold onto this unshakable hope as well.
Pray that these girls, no matter where they are, would be freed soon, and that if they are in their marital homes, their husbands would be so affected by our sisters’ witnesses that they would come to know Christ through their wives, and would set these beautiful women free.
Do not lose hope, brothers and sisters! The Lord is near, and His promises ring true. For all these reasons, we pray.
Dear readers, be blessed.
UPDATE: After reading this heartbreaking story, it has been pressed upon my heart that these young girls would be prayed for– not only for their release and salvation, but for their healing and restoration after having obtained months of sexual abuse. Please pray that, if given the chance, these girls would look to Christ, and would not harm or abort their children, if they do have them. Pray that these young women choose life for their children, and that their hearts would be open to the healing work Christ wants to do in and through them.
This pain is unbearable without Christ. Please pray that they’d look to Him for the restoration and healing they so need.
ISAIAH 62 PRAYER MINISTRY 
One response to ““Married Off”: Holding onto an Unshakable Hope”
[…] Since their capture in April of 2014, many of the Chibok girls’ parents have suffered to the point of death because of the pain, stress, and utter chaos that has come in the wake of their daughters’ abduction. While at least four died of heart failure, high blood pressure and other fatal illnesses, at least 11 fathers of the abducted girls were killed by Boko Haram in July of 2014. Since then, over 300 more people have been kidnapped by Boko Haram, and the Chibok girls are rumored to have been “married off” to the terrorists after being forcefully converted to Islam. Though these reports mar all hope, seemingly ruining any chance of these girls– or the countless others who have been kidnapped– being released or escaping, I firmly believe there is still hope for their freedom. […]
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