Even If
"The God we serve is able to save us from it....but even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." Daniel 3:17-18 (NIV)
Many of you know that Bible Bits actually began before there was Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or smart phones. In March 2003, VHHS head baseball Coach Sammy Dunn was diagnosed with stomach cancer and given just weeks to live. My husband Bruce was the JV baseball coach at the time. Our phone began ringing night and day as people wanted updates on both Coach Dunn's condition and ways they could best help. Our youngest son Daniel was playing on the freshman baseball team at the time. Honestly, between Bruce coaching baseball, Daniel playing high school baseball, our oldest son Robert playing college baseball, my job, and James Bruce, I didn't have hours to spend on the telephone. One day at a freshman baseball game I passed around a sheet of paper and told parents to put their names and email addresses down. My plan was to send a group email a few times a week. Before long, the JV parents and then the varsity parents asked to be included. Former players from the major leagues and across the country emailed and asked to be included as did people from our community.
We used the email group to update Sammy's condition, coordinate meals, arrange lawn or housecleaning services, even to provide pet food for the Dunn's lab Sabo. After 6 weeks, there were only so many ways to say, "He's really sick, and without a miracle from God, he's dying." One morning as I prayed during my quiet time, I sensed God urging me to include a short Bible verse and devotional thought along with the Coach Dunn email information update. When Sammy died in October 2004, a number of folks asked me to continue the email devotionals. I reluctantly agreed to try it, but had to come up with a new subject line for the emails. "Coach Dunn update" was no longer appropriate, but as I wrote the first email after Sammy's funeral, the phrase "Bible Bits" just seemed to best describe the emails. Small bites of Scripture hopefully with a thought or two to encourage, challenge, or equip someone for walking better with God.
I've thought a lot about Bible Bits and its history this week.
One of my favorite songs right now is Even If by the contemporary Christian music group Mercy Me. Much like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's testimony as they faced King Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace, the song's lyrics acknowledge God's sovereignty and sufficiency in and through our suffering. By faith, we know that God is ABLE to save us from suffering and trials, but we don't know whether He will choose to do so. We know that God has the power to deliver and we pray that He will. But one look at the Cross and we know that sometimes God doesn't deliver us from our suffering. For reasons known only to God, sometimes God allows our suffering for a greater purpose. And saints through the ages have repeated the courageous words of Daniel 3:17-18, "The God we serve is able to save us...but even if he does not, we won't serve or worship other gods."
Oh for an "Even If" kind of faith in the face of suffering, grief, pain, and sorrow!
I know You're able and I know You canSave through the fire with Your mighty handBut even if You don'tMy hope is You aloneI know the sorrow, and I know the hurtWould all go away if You'd just say the wordBut even if You don'tMy hope is You aloneIt is well with my soulIt is well, it is well with my soul (Even If lyrics by Mercy Me)
Wherever we are today, whatever our circumstances, may God grant us an 'even if' faith so that we can say with the hymnist, "It is well with my soul." It will not always be well with our circumstances, but for the Christian, it is always well with our soul.