by Brad Beals
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Ps 73:26
“But God” is one of my favorite phrases in the Bible. It turns the reader’s attention away from whatever came before (and that’s usually something bad) and points it again to where it belongs: on God.
This pivot happens often in Scripture. For example, Joseph says to his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Saul sought to kill David every day, “but God did not deliver him into his hand.” Noah and his family are quarantined on the ark for 150 days, “But God remembered Noah…” One more: Paul tells the Ephesians that they are, like the rest of mankind, children of wrath and then says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”
In each of these, the answer to the scary problem begins with God himself.
There is evil…But God!
There is life-threatening danger…But God!
There is quarantine…But God!
There is sin…But God!
God is the same yesterday, today, and always. Whatever you may be facing, you can trust that it is absolutely subject to Him who ordains all things. The world may seem like it’s turning upside down…But God!
Father, give us eyes to see that you are sovereign over all things, and give us ears to hear that you sing over us with an unmatched love. And when trials come give us the grace and wisdom to meet them boldly with answers that begin with You. Amen.
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