Those words mean a great deal to me. Each Sunday when I preach, on my way to the church building, I listen to parts of five different songs (always the same five). One of those songs, quoted above, is Even If by MercyMe. The lyrics speak deeply to me, and strengthen my faith, as I’m reminded that even if  my challenging circumstances do not change, Jesus is still my one and only hope.

 

As the band’s lead singer, Bart Millard, wrote: “[the song] is a reminder to people in difficult situations that don’t seem to go away. God is worthy long before any of those circumstances even showed up. The song is a declaration to God that even if He went silent and never said another word, He’s still worthy to be praised and He’s our greatest hope in the midst of the trial.”

 

The song also calls to mind the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel chapter 3. King Nebuchadnezzar issued a decree that when people heard the sound of musical instruments, they were required to fall down and worship the image of gold. If anyone disobeyed, his punishment was to be thrown into a blazing furnace. But those three men I mentioned refused to serve the false gods and worship the image. That infuriated the king, who told the men if they continued not to worship, they would be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. The men replied with this: “We do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3:16-18).

 

Notice the words, even if, in the verses from Daniel. The men essentially said they knew what God was capable of, but even if He did not come through, He was still their hope because of who He was, and what He had already done, no matter what the current circumstances were. And if nothing else, He was the only one who had prepared them for that situation.

 

Interestingly, God did allow these men to fall into the fire, but as it turned out, they were never alone. The king discovered there were four men—instead of three—in the fire. “He said, ‘Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods’” (Daniel 3:25).

 

The men were not miraculously prevented from entering the fiery furnace. But what made all the difference is that they were never alone in their times of trouble. Neither are we. As one blogger wrote, “God isn’t watching us in our moments of pain and thinking, ‘Well, I didn’t see this coming.’” When we hurt, God sees us, loves us, and never leaves us. He walks right beside us, ready to comfort and to heal. He will redeem the situation and bring beauty from our lives, no matter how desperate or disappointing our circumstances may be.

 

Pain, suffering, and struggles will come, not “if” but “when.” And when they do, we can shift our focus from our earthly troubles to our good and perfect God. If we do that, we might just see the fourth figure in the fire. We might just trust that God will rescue us from our deepest valleys, even if the rescue looks different than what we hoped, and even if the timing is not what we wanted. And we might just discover that we are never alone, and that our hope is in God alone.

 

Troy Burns