Each of us views the world through a specific lens. Not even the widest wide-angle lens can give us the full picture of reality. How often do we make statements about God as if we know the full picture? This is why the little word “but” is so important in the Bible. Just think of Paul in Ephesians 2:3-4, where he explains, “Because of our sinful nature, we were by nature deserving of wrath, just like the others. But…” That word changes everything! “But, God is rich in mercy…” Or in Romans 12:2, where Paul reminds us not to “conform to the pattern of this world” (i.e., reasoning from our sinful nature), but to allow God to transform our minds, “so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).
Earl W. Pearl wrote a poem titled “But God.” I’ll quote just two stanzas: “I play to what the ego breeds Man seldom is content But God, He often intercedes His mercy won’t relent What faith they have, my fear impedes I tell them God’s not there But God has vowed to meet their needs When hearing faithful prayer”
We live with so many fears and questions; and we tell ourselves so many lies, simply because we do not take the “theology of but” into account. This is what Job had to learn: consider God, the Sovereign. The highest authority belongs to God! Job, “Do you want to argue with the Almighty and correct Him? Will you reprove God…?” (Job 39:35) “But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” (Romans 9:20).
I wonder, where might I be blind by denying God’s sovereignty? And you?
PRAYER: I confess that You are the sovereign God; but Lord, do I live that way?
MUSIC:
We watch the music video of Larnelle Harris’s “But God.”