Have you ever been in one of those conversations where you pour out your heart to a person or excitedly share something that the Holy Spirit is teaching you from the Bible and their response starts with the word, “but….”?  Something about that word causes my elevator to drop about ten floors in an eight-floor building.  –having what once excited me effectively negated by that simple 3-letter word.

I admit that I have done that with God, though.  I read the Bible; I love His promises, yet sometimes His Word conflicts with my experiences—and often it is easy to look at circumstances and think there is more truth in them than in my heavenly Father.  There were times when I would read the messianic description of Jesus, acknowledge the words “…and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5), yet finish the statement with my “but…” in an attempt to explain why I was not seeing healing or why my prayers may carry an exemption to the Word of our sovereign God.

…or the promises Jesus spoke, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on….But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:25, 33).  In the midst of financial struggles or witnessing the struggles of others, it is often very difficult to grasp the heart of the One who longs for us to cast all of our cares on Him—and recognize that He truly cares for us.  I have found it very easy to explain what I think is God’s unresponsiveness to my requests by my lack of righteousness, or perhaps the presence of some unrecognized sin in my life; however, God’s response to our prayers has nothing to do with my righteousness (or lack of it)—everything hinges on His righteousness, His love, and the provision He made for us through Calvary.

We are finite people with finite minds, and for now, time holds us captive—yet we serve an eternal, personal God with limitless possibilities, not confined by time or space, holding a panoramic view of the past, present, and future.  Who He is—His characteristics and how He relates to mankind generally and each person individually is revealed throughout the Bible—“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).

However, sometimes God changes the subject—when He uses the word “but…”—His Word, what is true in the spiritual realm counters all that appears in the natural domain.  For instance:

Particularly in regards to salvation, yet encompassing the sovereignty of God—“(Who then can be saved?)…with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

“Whom have I in heaven but You?  And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.  My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26).

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope….But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:1-4, 8).

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-7).

Faith is the shield which protects us from the enemy’s fiery arrows—sourced in the character of God, its foundation is His Word.  Our faith not only brings pleasure to our Father, it is the basis for spiritual victories—“this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4).

…which is why it is crucial that we do not try to come up with reasons and explanations for not believing the personal relevancy of the Bible for our lives today.  Are you not praying because you don’t think God can or will answer the “big” issues of life?  Don’t let the enemy undermine your faith!  Are you not receiving the answers to your prayers (or at least not seeing them)?  Ask God!  “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).  Remember the omniscient, eternal aspects of God—He sees everything, throughout all time; His character is both trustworthy and loving, and we can safely replace our anxieties with the promises of His Word.