Hebrews Ten

Hebrews Chapter 10 begins with a 'refresher course' on Jesus' sacrifice that defeated the enemy. In regard to this blog, the enemy was attacking KatieLyn's answer to prayer for a husband; Jesus had defeated this enemy roughly 2000 years ago. The middle portion of the chapter speaks of having confidence and drawing near "with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith." Ideally, KatieLyn would have been exercising her faith in full assurance. Verse 23 encourages us to "hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." 

Hold Fast ≠ Run Away

 
Verse 26 of Hebrews 10 has a caution about sinning willfully after you have a knowledge of the truth, and the rest of the chapter paints a black or white picture of the need for endurance, contrasting it with shrinking back. I will copy selected verses from the English Standard Version here so that you don't have to go look it up:

32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, (…) 34 since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Now we will apply this passage to KatieLyn:

We recall the former days when, after KarieLyn had been enlightened about God's design for her marriage, she endured a hard struggle because her mother was finding fault and making demands about minutiae in God's plan. KarieLyn was suffering since this resulted in repeated fighting. And she hates fighting. And she loves her mother. So if the enemy could get her fighting with her mother, the enemy could win. But she knew that God had given her a better plan for her life, and she endured for a while, until she threw away her confidence in what she had heard from God. When she dropped her confidence, she also lost her reward and she is not happily married today. She had need of endurance to walk out the will of God in faith so that she could have received the promise of her answered prayers. God expected her to live by faith. But she shrank back, and He had no pleasure in that. God was not glorified by her running off in the middle of the night. Those who shrink back are destroyed. Those who have faith preserve their souls.

Notice that the outcome was dependent on her acting in faith. "Que Sera, Sera" is not God's theme song. When God gave man free choice, it eliminated the possibility that "Whatever Will Be, Will Be" is sound doctrine. We have a role in what will be. Acting in faith results in a positive outcome. Acting in fear, as well as prolonged failure to act, result in negative outcomes. Shrinking back and running away in the middle of the night were actions rooted in fear, not in faith.

A runaway bride is not being brave, she is being rash. A runaway bride who is running from the Lord's revealed will is not courageous, she is faint-hearted at best, and quite likely defiant in her rebellion. God has no pleasure in her behavior.

v38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.
Synonyms for shrinks back are: give up, draws back, pull out, withdraw, forsake, quit.  Not one of those means the resolute endurance characteristic of faith.   

Six verses into the next chapter reads, "without faith, it is impossible to please Him." If KarieLyn had been acting in faith and diligently seeking the Lord, He would not have told her to run away in the middle of the night. He would have said, "Hold fast. Trust Me. I know what I am doing."