1823 Even If He Doesn’t

What if God doesn’t do what you want him to do here? What if he doesn’t make this all work out the way you think it should work out? Really, what if he doesn’t … where does you faith stand then? Where will your joy be found if your idea of good isn’t how this unfolds?

God never called you and I to a life of certainty. He hasn’t empowered a single one of us to know or control what unfolds next. Here’s what we do know: We know Jesus said in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world!”

Your trouble will be overcome by Jesus. Now we don’t know when and we don’t know how, but we know somehow and someway Jesus is overcoming this trouble. But it won’t always look like it and it certainly won’t always feel like it. Faith requires you to accept that this may not go the way you want it to go. Faith requires a trust that reaches deeper than the circumstances and remembers there’s an eternity we have not seen.

Will Jesus heal the cancer? I know he can and I know he will … but what we don’t know is if it’s healed in this temporary earthly body or if it’s healed in the future eternal state of perfection. Both are healing, we just don’t know which one it will be.

Will Jesus save that marriage? Well, there’s a whole lot of human free will and choices involved in a thing like marriage. So honestly, I don’t know.

Will Jesus save your job? Will he clear the rain on your beach vacation? Will he give you that baby? Will he open the doors to your dreams? Will he bless you with wild success?

Answer: I have no idea! I know he can, but I can’t pretend to know his ways or his timing. In my earthly state, I can’t imagine the heavenly workings of all these details. And this is where we must quote Daniel 3: 18, “But even if he doesn’t …”

I know what God CAN do … he can do absolutely anything. Nothing is impossible with God. I know some of the things God has done, and those things are miraculous, indescribable, and unpredictable. And I know the end game, Jesus has already overcome every problem in the world … literally! Today’s problem will not be a problem forever. However, I have no way of knowing exactly what God is going to do with today’s problems and uncertainties.

How arrogant of us to assume we know the things only Heaven knows. God’s plans may be different than our desires. Faith requires us to live with open hands of surrender and find peace in the not knowing.

The truth is, I don’t know if I wake up tomorrow … neither do you. The truth is, we don’t know what could come falling out of the sky today. We don’t know what news the next phone call may bring. But not a single one of us have to be disturbed in the not knowing. We are called to live in a state of balance where we never doubt God’s ability, but also don’t assume to know God’s will.

Where is the trouble in your life? Really, think about the trouble you’re dealing with right now. It’s a trouble of uncertainty isn’t it? You don’t know if, you don’t know how and you don’t know when. Now, do you believe God really has the ability to change this trouble you’re facing? Can he heal this? Can he restore this? Can he stop this? Can he make it happen? YES. Absolutely! He can do it. This is not beyond his reach or outside of his power. Nor is it hidden from his eye. He sees and he knows.

Now, WHAT will he do? That we do not know.

My sister, can you make peace with simply not knowing. Maybe right now you would have to honestly say you can’t. You just can’t be okay with not knowing what’s going to happen next. Well, that’s the funny thing about knowing … it’s a false sense of security, because you simply have no way of knowing. Every moment of your life hangs on a fine string and you can’t save yourself, nor can you save anyone else.

Our anxiety often comes from assuming we know God’s will … and when we assume to know his will, then we try to force his will. Speaking from experience here, trying to force your own preconceived notion of God’s will is absolutely exhausting … and disappointing!

Repeat after me: BUT EVEN IF HE DOESN’T …

We cannot judge our circumstances with our earthly limitations. Quite honestly, if we knew all the details of how extremely fragile this is and every threat being formed against us in the pits of hell, we wouldn’t have the strength to get up out of bed on most days. We can only judge our circumstances by the everlasting God and the eternal life that awaits us. And here’s my very limited, wild guess … MOST OF WHAT I’M WORRIED ABOUT TODAY SIMPLY WON’T MATTER BEYOND THIS LIFE. It won’t matter that this body is failing because honey, we’re getting something perfect in Heaven! It won’t matter that this job is ending, because in Heaven, we’re all eternally retired in paradise and we won’t be bored with it either! RIP: Retired in Paradise. It won’t matter that the relationship was strained, the finances were drained, and the hardship remained.

What matters is that we know Jesus! What matters is THEY know Jesus. Everything else is temporary details that have been getting in the way.

Now, let’s read the full story of this one verse “But even if he doesn’t …” It’s actually from a familiar story many people have heard. You’re going to love this!

In Daniel chapter 3, King Nebuchadnezzar had build a massive gold statue that was 90 feet tall. He declared at the sound of the music, everyone had to bow down to the ground to worship his statue. For anyone not willing to bow down and worship, they would be thrown into a blazing furnace. There were 3 young men in Babylon named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and they worshiped the one true God. When the music played, they refused to bow down and worship this golden statue. They were doing the right thing.

Daniel 3: 13-18, “Then Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and ordered that Sharach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought before him. When they were brought in, Nebuchadnezzar said to them, ‘Is it true that you refuse to serve my gods or to worship the gold statue I have set up? I will give you one more chance to bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments. But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. And then what god will be able to rescue you from my power?'”

“Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. BUT EVEN IF HE DOESN’T, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

THIS IS THE ‘BUT EVEN IF HE DOESN’T’ MOMENT … and it’s a serious one. God will rescue us, but even if he doesn’t …

They never doubted God’s ability, but they didn’t assume to know God’s will. Maybe God’s will was a mystery to them from an earthly perspective, but from an eternal perspective it would be perfect.

Why do bad things happen to good people … I simply can’t pretend to know because I’m not God and I don’t have to vantage point of Heaven.

Do you know what happened next in the story? Did God charge in with an army of heavenly angels and rescue these 3 young men who had done the right thing? Did God miraculously put out the fire in the furnace and make it impossible for the King to restart the fire? Did God’s voice come down from the sky and shake the ground, changing the King’s heart right before the 3 men were thrown in the furnace?

No. Those are all great ideas and with God they were all possible. But again, we can’t assume to know God’s will. I realize I’m constantly trying to convince God of my imagined good plans and offer them to him as his will. Who am I to think I could possibly know better than God? Yet, that’s what I do … isn’t that what you do too?

What God did instead was he allowed it to happen. He allowed the fire. He allowed the 3 to be thrown in the fire. And HE WAS RIGHT THERE WITH THEM.

Tomorrow, we’ll read the rest of the story to see what happened when they fell into the flames. In the flames is precisely where God was.

But for today, practice saying, “Even if he doesn’t …”

This is surrender. This is faith. This is the obedience God is calling us to.

Even if God doesn’t do what you want him to do here … Even if he doesn’t make this all work out the way you think it should work out … Let your faith stand and your joy remain in him, even in the unknown, the uncertainty, and the undesirable.

God, even if you don’t ….

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