Have you ever said this before? “Oh Lord, I come to you as humbly as I know how. If you get me out of this situation or do this one thing for me, I’ll go to church every Sunday, read my Bible every night, and submit my life to you fully!”
We say this prayer or something similar when all else fails. This prayer is every Christian’s lifeline and last cry for help! If you’re coming as ‘humbly as you know how,’ then it’s safe to say you’re in serious trouble, lol!
I was in this position too long ago, trusting God for a car. Now, mind you; He had just blessed me with a nice car not even a year prior to me rear-ending someone and totaling it out. Admitting this isn’t very comfortable, but I learned so much about true worship through that experience. So, I made a deal with God that if He blessed me with a car, I wouldn’t even crank it unless I prayed first. I’ve had my new car for about 3 months now, and unfortunately, I’ve been a little short at holding up my end of the deal.
Here’s the thing, though- the Lord gets us out of that situation or blesses us with that thing because He’s a good and loving Father, not because of our cute yet empty promises. The Lord delivers us and blesses us even though He knows there’s a chance we won’t reciprocate the faithfulness. He does it because He desires to, and nothing can separate us from His love, not even our failures.
Consider this: In Daniel chapter 3, we see some crazy unconditional faith. Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego have discovered they’re about to be thrown into a fiery pit ALIVE if they don’t worship this false god! Do you remember how they responded? There are two key takeaways from their response.
They showed no fear and had full confidence that God would deliver them.
They expressed that EVEN IF God did not deliver them from the fiery pit, they would still trust in Him and wouldn’t bow to any other god.
What solid faith they had!? Imagine if we took that approach the next time the enemy reared his ugly head up in our lives. If only we could muster this kind of faith when our spouses become unrecognizable to us, or when that toxic job taunts us with talk of termination, or when the doctor’s diagnosis speaks a death curse over us, or maybe when our children do everything but the right thing.
Imagine if, in response to every attack of the enemy, we just said, “My God is going to deliver me and bring me out.” This answer would get God’s attention because according to Jeremiah 39:17 and several other scriptures, it’s His own words coming out of us, and we know He watches His word to perform it (Isaiah 55:11).
Let’s make it a habit to respond to every situation exactly like those 3 Hebrew boys- having the faith to know that He will and keeping the faith EVEN IF He does not.
As believers, we must be willing to be spiritually tried by fire, thrown into the pit, and ready to die to the flesh. Because, if we’re being honest, our flesh gets us into many of these ‘situations’ to begin with.
The next time we’re faced with a trying circumstance, understand it as an opportunity to practice the mindsets of Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego. Stop ‘making deals’ with God that we’re not sure we can keep. Instead, let us lean into His divine protection, provision, and decisions for our seasons, trust, and believe that even if it costs us, our lives are not our own anyway.
Can you see yourself trying out these heart postures the next time you need a right-now answer from God?
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