EVEN IF

Keeping our emotions in check is a very difficult thing. Wouldn't you agree?  Many of our emotions are dependent on our circumstances.  We get frustrated if things don't go our way.  We get  angry if someone cuts us off in traffic or we feel that some injustice has been done to us.  We are sad if we lose someone we love. We feel insecure if we are not being recognized. We may be disappointed if someone else wins a record-breaking lottery. Those are all natural emotions. However, we have to exercise some control. II Timothy 1:7 says "For God has not given us the spirit of fear or timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self discipline."  It has always comforted me to know that the one emotion that I know can remain constant is joy. No matter what I am experiencing, my joy can never be altered because it is not dependent on my circumstances but on the hope that I have in Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.

I have MORE good news! There is an emotion that we do not have to control:  unashamedness.  Yes, it's a word. I looked it up. It is the feeling of no remorse, shame or embarrassment.  In fact it can be an impossible one to control. In Acts 4, Peter and John have just been released from jail and have been told not to speak the name of Jesus again.   Acts 4:20 shows their response. "As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." They just couldn't help it! They HAD to speak about it.

Wouldn't it be great if our faith was as natural as our emotions that want to explode from our inner being?  Three young men in the Bible have become my new heroes lately as I have examined one little phrase that they said to King Nebuchadnezzar as they were getting ready to be thrown into the fiery furnace. Here is the passage from Daniel 3:16-19:   "16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 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. 18 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." 19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed."

Did you catch the phrase that hit me? In verse 18 , the words BUT EVEN  IF hit me like a brick. They were so sure of the fact that the Lord was their Defender and that He was able to save them. They even said, "He WILL rescue us from your hand".  These boys were wise enough to know that the way in which God chose to defend them and rescue them may not necessarily look like what they felt rescuing was, but they would be rescued nonetheless. No matter what they were being threatened with , they were not willing to compromise their faith.  "EVEN IF He does not...we will not serve your gods." That's a boundary, if I've ever seen one!  What courage! Do you have that kind of faith? EVEN IF things don't go your way, are you going to continue to serve God?  No matter what's at stake, are you willing to live in obedience and trust that God will rescue you? Are you willing to take it a step further, as these young men did, and be unashamed and proclaim boldly that you will continue to serve your God?

It made me reflect on a few of my EVEN IF moments from the past. EVEN IF my marriage fails, am I going to continue to serve? EVEN IF I have a miscarriage, am I going continue to praise the name of the Lord? EVEN IF it takes me over a year to conceive again, am I going to acknowledge that the Lord is in control? EVEN IF my house burns down, am I going to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength?  EVEN  IF I have to sit back and helplessly watch my husband go through the loss of his ailing father and muster the strength to preach at his funeral, am I going to fall at the feet of Jesus and thank Him for that trial?

Here is my honest answer. I got angry. I asked, "Why?" I cried many tears throughout my trials. However,  I never lost my joy or my hope and I never doubted who I was or Whose I was. I remember the pastor from our previous church asking me how I was doing after our house fire. I gave a one word answer, "Victorious." Believe me, I was just as surprised as he was with the answer that automatically came out of my mouth. I am victorious in any situation because I am the daughter of the King Most High! I am Royalty and I choose to have EVEN IF faith!