Even If He Doesn't

“Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the King, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 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. 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.’” Daniel 3:16-18 (emphasis mine)

A few days ago, I was reminded of this verse. I was sitting with some mighty women of prayer and we were pondering why God hasn’t moved in certain areas in the lives of those we love and pray for even though we know it would be in His divine nature to do so. It was then I remembered this scripture.

At times I find myself having to purposely bring to forefront of my thinking a special kind of faith that I, and I imagine a whole contingency of Christians, neglect. I call it the “even if He doesn’t” kind of faith. In our verse today, you see Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego boldly declare their faith in what God could do, they were confident that he was able to save and rescue them from the hand of Nebuchadnezzar who was about to have them thrown into a blazing furnace.

I find myself in that camp on some days. I am bold in my faith and what I believe and I am certain that He will deliver me. Then there are the days, like today, where I falter in that same faith. It is then that I need to ask myself, “Arlene what if He doesn’t, will you still follow Him?” Can I declare as the three men in this verse did that no matter what danger I am faced with, I will?

I struggle with an auto-immune disease that there is no cure for other then the intervening hand of God. I deal with pain and stiffness every day of my life and some days are far worse then others. Today is one of those days. I firmly believe that we have a God who heals. I have not wavered on that point since I first came to Christ. I was very bold in my assertions in my early days of walking with the Lord. Then came the diagnosis. That was when I learned that you have no idea what you believe until you are forced to believe it. When you are plagued with something that there is no known cure for and the only thing you have to lean on is God, that is when you know what you truly believe. It was really easy to believe God for a headache when I have 4 kinds of pain relievers in my medicine cabinet. It was even easier to believe God for the nasty cold I got a while back when the doctor told me it would run its course. The tricky part about trusting God for healing is when there is no back up plan.

I have fallen into the two extremes that I think most Christians fall into when the need for healing arises. One is that there must be sin in your life. My initial reaction when something negative shows up is to spend a time in self absorbed introspective character assassination to try to find what I did wrong to bring this difficulty in my life. Can you relate? Still worse, if the Holy Spirit doesn’t show me something, I will make it up.

The other extreme is that I start to question whether I do believe that God heals. I don’t know how to communicate this in writing but I really think I do. My husband, after falling through a roof on a missions trip, was told that he would definitely need surgery on his knee and he would probably not be able to run (which he loves) again. All I can say is I just didn’t believe it. I point blank told him not to believe the need for surgery as well. To be honest, his faith was more in the “I have to have surgery on my knee” camp. Truth be told he didn’t need the surgery and is running again one year later. You can see my frustration.

If I have faith to believe for my husbands healing and see it manifested in his life even though he didn’t believe, why don’t I see that same healing in mine? In our human nature, I think we like things to be either black or white. We don’t do well in the grey areas of life. We like to have a reason for something when it happens. As I already pointed out, we Christians tend to fall into two different camps, the first being un-confessed sin and the other not having enough faith.

But what if there is a third option? What if it does have to do with our faith? What if there is the “even if He doesn’t” option? Would we still follow God if He doesn’t bring the outcome that we expect for something we are believing Him for? Is it wrong to believe in an outcome rather then in Him? It is only when I face these days of pain and discouragement that I am confronted with the question “Am I following God because I love the gift or the giver of the gift”. “Do I love God for what He can do for me or do I just love Him?”

Last night as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep in spite of my throbbing joints, I purposed my mind to meditate on all that He has done for me since I gave my life to Him 14 years ago. I found myself thankful that the days of depression and hopelessness that consumed my life since I was a young child were part of my history and not my destiny. Instead He has given me hope and joy in His presence. While in the past, I might have been discouraged in the agony of the moment, last night I was able to say with a certainty I hadn’t felt before “Even if he doesn’t I will still follow Him”.

Maybe that is the kind of faith that truly glorifies God and causes the watching world to take notice. Maybe that is what God is after, in all our lives, with whatever we struggle in. When God doesn’t seem to answer your prayer could you find comfort in the “even if He doesn’t” walk of faith? Can you put your trust in a God who loves you rather then in an outcome? Can you just love Him because He loved you first?