How Did I Get Here?Sample

I have found that when we live in the realm of the what ifs, thinking about what could happen, and then working to control all we can, we’re trying to live in the future, and not the present. We’re giving in to our fears and being future-focused.

Both fear and faith can make us future-focused, but there is a kind of faith God wants us walking in all the time—and at the same time as our future-focused faith. It’s found in the book of Daniel when King Nebuchadnezzar wanted to punish three young Hebrew men for not bowing down and worshipping a golden statue. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew how to trust God with all their hearts. When they were to be thrown into a fiery furnace, they said, “If the God we serve exists, then he can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he can rescue us from the power of you, the king. But even if he does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)

Even if! That’s the kind of faith God wants us to have all the time. Even if faith is what keeps us tethered when we are in the midst of a crisis, when we do not understand what is going on, when it is painful, confusing, demoralizing, disheartening, disappointing. Even if faith keeps us from drifting. It anchors us.

When we experience the gap between what is and what will be, that’s when trust is most needed. When a loved one isn’t healed. When our prayer isn’t answered the way we hoped, the way we asked. When the floor falls out from under us. When we are waiting. When we are grieving. When we are hurting. When we lack understanding. When what we see—and what we experience around us—flies in the face of what we read in his Word, that is when trust is needed. Do we trust him and what he says? Or do we trust in what we see and understand? If our trust in God is limited to our understanding, then we have actually made a god of our understanding and ceased worshipping the true One. If only we would embrace the tension of living in "the already and the not yet,” then we could create space for God to be God, and for us to grow in even if faith. Isn’t that what we truly want? To trust God more and grow in our faith?

It’s important to remember that no matter what happens in our lives, it is our faith that pleases God. Both our future-focused faith and our even if faith. It’s what moves us forward. Faith is what transforms us from unbelieving believers into believing believers. From not trusting in the goodness of God to fully trusting in him again—whatever our present circumstances may be. What a gift to have even if faith!

What freedom to realize that even if we feel afraid, we can still trust God. Even if we feel insecure, we can still trust God. Even if we feel anxiety, we can still trust God. Even if we feel completely out of control, we can still trust God. Even if we feel disappointed, we can still trust God. Even if we feel betrayed, we can still trust God. Even if we have made a mistake, we can still trust God. We don’t have to drift, even if our feelings are trying to, if we stay anchored in Jesus and keep our trust in him.