But If Not

You have prayed the bold prayer and meant every word: God can heal this, and God can restore this. Underneath it runs a second question you have never said out loud. What happens to my faith if He does not?

Notice what the three young men standing before the king do not say. They never claim to know that God will rescue them. They say two things, and then a third that keeps the first two from sounding like a guarantee. First, "our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace." Second, "he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king." Then comes the third: "But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

Everything turns on that short phrase, "But if not," so it is worth being exact about what they admit. They do not admit that God might be unable, because the men have just said He is able. They do not even admit that He might fail to get them out of the king's hand, since dying is one way of leaving Nebuchadnezzar's reach for good. What they admit is that they do not know how it will go. So they settled their obedience before the answer came. That is the only time such a decision can honestly be made, because a decision made afterward is really a verdict on how well God did.

So here is an invitation, and nobody will check whether you take it. Say both halves about the thing you are praying for: He is able, and He may. Then, if you are willing, say the harder half, and name what you will still do if the answer is no. A faith that can say that second sentence is the kind that survives an answer you did not want, because it rests on God Himself, whatever the outcome.

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 185 is Our Own Souls (1 Thessalonians 2:8).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna