We must live our life in the “but if not.” This pertains to our faith we have in God especially when we are asking something of Him. We ask God to do something or for something or just to show up. There is much riding on those asks of God. For many their entire relationship with God hangs on those questions and statements. This is where the “but if not” comes in. It allows us to have faith no matter the outcome even before the outcome has shown itself. There is a great example in Daniel 3. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were going to be tossed in the fire and here is there response:
16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
They understood the “but if not.” Their faith was not diminished by not knowing God’s response to their situation. Their faith first and foremost was in their first statement that God would save them if Nebuchadnezzar tossed them in the fire. But they understood that their faith did not rest upon whether or not God did what they thought he would do. They were living and taking rest in the “but if not.” They knew that God was who he said he was. That his response to their situation does not diminish His character or what He thinks about us. This is the place to live, the “but if not.” I do not have some magic formula for how to live in this place. I am trying to live in that place each day. God I expect you to show up but if not you are still who you say you are. So in the end I think having the knowledge of the “but if not” is putting our self in a place to begin to operate in it.
So may we have faith with expectation of the miraculous, but also be willing to live in the “but if not.”
