But If Not . . .

This year, a new song was released by MercyMe titled “Even If.” If you haven’t heard it yet, I’d encourage you to look it up. Premised upon the truth that God is our only hope no matter whether or not He intervenes in our lives in the ways we would like Him to, the lyrics allude to Daniel 3, which tells of three Jewish exiles who stood (literally) firm in their faith in the face of tremendous pressure to bow down and worship something other than God.

When faced with being thrown in a burning furnace as punishment for their disobedience to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego delivered a powerful response to Nebuchadnezzar’s question, “And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” (Daniel 3:15b, ESV).

They replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:16b-18, ESV, emphasis added).

But if not

Those are three words heavy with meaning. At first, the phrase seems contradictory because it comes right after the three men state with conviction that God will deliver them. If they’re so sure God is coming to their rescue, then why even consider the possibility that He won’t?

I think the posture these men take shows us the complexity of faith. They are 100% convinced that God is able to save them from the fire. Yet they are also thoroughly aware of the fact that it is God’s prerogative to do so—or not to do so—and they believe that God is the only one worthy of worship whether He saves them or not.

At first glance, this posture seems like an easy one to hold. Sure, we can say we believe God is all-powerful. And sure, we can agree that God is the only One truly deserving of worship. We can even acknowledge that God in His sovereignty gets to call the shots.

But what happens when, in His wisdom, His sovereignty involves not saving us from danger or taking away our pain? Are we still able to maintain our belief that He is able? If God had not rescued the Jewish men from their fiery grave, would their fellow Jews still have been convinced that God could have saved them?

Let’s make this a little more personal. When we pray and pray for God to heal a loved one, bodily, on this earth, and they die instead, do we still trust that He could have? When our hearts are wounded or thoroughly broken, and the pain remains for years and years, do we still believe that God could have and still can heal our wounds? When we are afflicted with recurring temptation and God refrains from hindering the enemy that tempts us, are we still convinced that He is more powerful than they?

Here our faith is put to the test, because if we believe that He can heal any illness, bind up any wound, deliver from temptation, then the question becomes, “Why doesn’t He?” And that is one of the most difficult questions to live with, because no matter how hard we try, we will not be able to fathom the infinite depths of the wisdom of God—which means the answer is, “We just don’t know.”

Sometimes in His grace, He gives us a glimpse, a “perhaps” moment where we can hazard a guess at what a small part of His purposes might be. But we will never truly know the full counsel of God’s understanding. So we are left to trust that His revelations about Himself are true—that He is just; He is love; He is truth; He is compassionate; He is not altogether like us (i.e. He is in a class all His own); He is all-knowing; and He is all-wise.

And when we are confronted with the magnitude of His power and the unfathomableness of His wisdom, we can’t help but stand in humility and awe. When we reach that point, we are able to embody the complexity of a faith fully convinced that God is able, even when He doesn’t answer our prayers in the way we were hoping. We can be confident that just because He doesn’t, doesn’t mean He can’t, and we can trust that if and when He doesn’t, it’s for a good and perfect reason—one that might involve pain and suffering but one that fits perfectly into His sovereign will.

Living out this complex faith is not the easiest thing in the world. In fact, it’s incredibly difficult. But praise God that He is also able to grant us the faith we need. So with the man in Jesus’ day who cried, “I believe; help my unbelief!” we can be honest with God who already knows our heart and our weakness (Mark 9:24b, ESV). We can tell Him when we are struggling in our faith and beseech Him to give us more.

And in our moments of doubt, we can preach to ourselves the truth of God’s Word and declare with the apostle Paul in Romans 11:33-36 (ESV), “Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

For who has known the mind of the Lord,

                or who has been his counselor?

                Or who has given a gift to him

                                that he might be repaid?

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.”

Photo credit: Keri-Lynn Paulson. Used with permission.