but, if not…
Like many churches in the US and around the world, we have been having church virtually. This past month my church, Impact Church, started having in-person services again. And let me tell you…. It has been some power-filled worship services. Being able to come back and worship as a family, as a congregation has been amazing. Holy Spirit has been sweeping through His people and moving in ways we haven’t seen in a while and I believe He is redefining our image of Him.
This past Sunday my pastor said something that got me thinking. He said, “Even if God doesn’t pull through the way I think He should, He is still good. He is still faithful because He simply cannot deny who He is. Which is good and faithful.” When I heard that, my spirit jumped. You see… Because let’s be honest, it’s easy to praise God when things are going well, but what happens when life becomes hard? When things didn’t go the way we planned it? One thing I am learning is this, our circumstances do not dictate or define God’s goodness. God’s character dictates His goodness. God is good all the time. No matter the circumstances.
No matter what, God is good. He is faithful. Nothing catches Him by surprise. It’s not a shocker to Him that you are facing trials. But will you still see His goodness in the midst of it all?
As I was praying and figuring out how I was going to write this blog, God lead me to Daniel 3. Daniel chapter three gives us the well-known story of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah — better known as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego — and their encounter with King Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace. These godly young Hebrews were taken into captivity, but purposed in their hearts that they would not defile themselves by accepting the King’s meat, which came with a dark agenda: to influence the young men away from the honor of the Living and True God and accept the heathen practices of Babylon.The Lord honored their desire to be faithful to Him by causing them to be chosen by the King to be “over the affairs of the province of Babylon” (Dan.2:49) and the King “made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts…” (Dan.2:48). So by this, we see that God honored their faithful stand.
In his great pride, however, Nebuchadnezzar decided to make a massive golden image and he expected everyone to “fall down and worship the golden image” that he had set up when the music played (Dan.3:15). The punishment for non-compliance was going to be immediate destruction in the “midst of a burning fiery furnace” (Dan.3:6).
Even though the three men held a position of authority, the king was furious when certain Jews noticed that that they did not comply. Immediately, he questioned them and gave them one final warning. With the king’s warning, he asked this question: “Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” (Dan.3:15). And this was their response…
17 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. 18 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 3:17-18 ESV
Instead of panicking and begging, these men had the utmost confidence in God. They knew that if it was God’s purpose, He would deliver them and save them from this mess. They trusted him to do so – but their faith didn’t stop there! These men also trusted God enough to say, “even if He doesn’t save us from this, we will still serve him.” They knew that their God was right and holy, and if He chose to leave them in the situation, they trusted that He knew what he was doing. Their trust in Him was not conditional.
How often is our trust in God conditional? How often do we think “God, if you don’t get me out of this, you must hate me…” How often do we push God away when pain comes into our lives? I know I do sometimes, and I’m confident I am not the only one. The thing is, God is always good. Always. He is perfect, so all that He does is perfect, regardless of what we think.
I think the crazy part about the story in Daniel chapter 3 is that God allows Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be thrown into the fire. Was the Lord too busy or too nonchalant about the situation? Nope. It turns out that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were never alone in the fire. When the king looks into the furnace, he sees four men instead of three. God sends an angel for their protection and deliverance in their moment of distress. They all emerge from the fire without a scratch, much to the astonishment of the onlookers. And at the end of the story, God gets the glory.
I think sometimes we base our praise on whether or not God will come in and rescue us, but that is where we are wrong. Daniel and his friends do not escape their trials. They don’t find themselves miraculously prevented from entering the lion’s den or the fiery furnace. But what makes all the difference is that they were never alone in their times of trouble, and neither are we.
I think that’s pretty reassuring as we walk through the valleys of life. We aren’t in those seasons of suffering by mistake. God isn’t watching us in our moments of pain and thinking, “Well, I didn’t see this coming.” He sees us in our hurting. He loves us in our hurting. He never leaves us in our hurting.
God is walking right beside us, ready to comfort our aching hearts and wrap up our wounds as only He can. He will bring beauty from our lives, no matter how desperate or disappointing our situations may look at the moment. No matter the situation we are facing, whether its healing for our bodies, salvation for our families, or helping us during financial crisis, God is still sitting on the throne and He is and always will be good!
And if you don’t believe me, here are some ways that He is still good:
He works in ways we cannot understand.
Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
I’m notorious for trying to rush God. Because of my impatience, I try to do things in my own strength rather than leaning into His. Even in the silence, God is working on our behalf. The key to figuring out what He is doing, however, is to be silent and wait on God. While that is a hard lesson for me to learn, God works in ways that are not always revealed to me. The best thing I can do is believe and trust God is working behind the scenes in ways I may not understand but are in my best interest.
2. He does everything in His timing, not mine.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
While I would love to know God’s plan right now, I have to trust God will make something beautiful out of my crummy circumstances. Although I may pray and ask God for something to happen right now, it is easy to get discouraged when my prayer requests don’t get answered when I expect them. God still wants me to pray and present my requests to Him. However, he does want me to trust Him and believe that even when things don’t go the way I want them to, God has heard my prayers and is faithful to answer them based on what He knows is best for me.
3. He is good in His faithfulness, even when we are not.
2 Timothy 2:13 says, “if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”
God embodies faithfulness; it is a part of who God is. Even when we fall away on account of our wandering hearts, God never wavers. This is good news! He is the constant even when our lives are thrown into chaos. When my life is falling apart around me, I can know God will still be with me. Even when I fall away and put other parts of my life ahead of Him.
4. He is good in the grace that is sufficient for us.
2 Corinthians 12:9 says “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
This is one of my favorite verse. You may think it’s a bad thing to become weak, but God loves us even when we are weak because that is when His strength shines through. But in this verse, it is important to note God has given us His power so we can continue to do His work here on earth. Even when we fall, we can know for certain God’s grace is sufficient. When we have some sort of illness or injury derailing our plans, God’s grace is sufficient. When the world around us tries to silence our message, we can know God is good and gracious.
And lastly, He is good because…
5. He turns our pain into His glory.
God does not waste pain. His nature is all goodness. Even though God didn’t create pain, He allows us to experience pain so we can cling to Him and cry out to Him when we are hurting. When we cry out to Him, He is glorified, because when we are in pain, God moves in ways we can never imagine. We just have to let Him.
Reminds me of the book of Job. After the terrible, chaotic trials Job goes through, how does he respond? “yet, I will hope in Him.” Job 13:15
You see, because we don’t find our hope in answered prayers or when everything is going well, we find our hope in God alone. Our faith and hope must be anchored in Him and Him alone. God didn’t waste Job’s pain and suffering, in fact, the pain and suffering Job went through brought Him closer to God. He gained more confidence in Him more than before. After all Job went through, death of his family, painful sores all over his body and all his wealth taken away, he never once denied the Lord. Never.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego went into the furnace believing that whatever God had planned for them in this trial –either life or death, blessing or hardship — God would deliver them. Had they not gone into the fire, the Lord’s miraculous intervention would not have been witnessed by the king and all of the spectators. When Nebuchadnezzar saw the Son of God in the middle of the fire with them and the others untouched, he exclaimed, “There is no other God that can deliver after this sort.” Daniel 3:29
So, no matter what you may be walking through right now, God is good in the midst of it. You may feel like you are being thrown into the fire, but God is in the midst of it. And even if He is doesn’t answer a certain prayer, or heal you, or come in and rescue you, He still gets the glory. He is still good. He still is faithful. He cannot deny who He is. God has given us all we need in Jesus Christ and the salvation that we have through Him. He is perfect and all He does is perfect.
He has never left you nor will He ever leave you. He loves you very much.
Let’s praise Him differently. Let’s praise His goodness.