But God

2Thessalonians 3:3 “But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.”

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here are times in our lives when we are in desperate need on a “But God” to get us through a most difficult situation. I think of Sylvester Stallone losing his beloved son only to lose a beloved sister just six weeks later. Like all of us I’m sure that if he’d known in advance he would have chosen not to experience the pain. No thanks, I’ll take a rain check. Maybe some other time, but life often does not give us the option to accept or reject calamity.

Tragedy strikes us all in one form or another, sometimes with such ferocity we would choose to give up and throw in the towel. Here we are on the threshold of another hurricane season and people are bracing for yet another devastating storm having survived the terrible onslaught of another storm just a few short years ago.

Its times like these we need a “But God” to save us.

So exactly what is meant when we recite passages like 2Thess.3:3 and others? Some would declare it to be a like an insurance policy erroneously assuming death, hardship, and tragedy are kept at bay because after all “I’m paying the premiums”!  “Therefore I’m exempt from such calamities.”  I suggest that the phrase means more than mere physical deliverance, to the contrary, it has a far greater significance.

In the context of the passage, the Apostle Paul is admonishing the church, at Thessalonica, to remain faithful [in spirit] to his teachings and not to shrink in their faith regardless on the terrible times predicted upon the church, that of the revealing of the wicked one” (2Thess.2:3-8); but rather to remember God’s faithfulness and love for His church.

Let me ask you a question. Has there ever been a time in your life when things were so bad you felt like giving up on God? Giving up your most holy faith? If we were absolutely honest we would have to say YES! I’ve felt like giving up [if only for a brief period of time].  “But God” kept you. Oh, the tragedy was still terrible—“But God” intervened and kept your faith solid as a rock! You did not give up your faith in God, not because of your own intestinal fortitude—“But God” and God alone! He alone kept you and brought you through. Philippians 2:13 “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”

Oh, to be sure we like to give ourselves credit for all our achievements and accomplishments, when in fact it is the “But God” working within us.

No one wants to endure trials and tribulations. Nobody, except perhaps professional fighters, and even they have a threshold of pain they would refuse if given the option. The Scriptures use the metaphor of the birth pangs of a woman during the later stages of birth when the contractions become so bad she would do almost anything to be relieved of the pain, but she cannot! She must preserve through the entire process until the child is born. She may cry out for the epidural, though it won’t be administered until the proper time. Yet she cannot abort the mission. She cannot undo the pregnancy. She simply must endure—But God.

Recently our home was burglarized and we felt devastated, violated, fearful and a host of other emotional tidal waves hit Diane and I as we plodded through the unwanted and unsolicited experience, “But God” kept us. We had weathered many other storms in our 33 years of married life so we were confident that only He would see us through. Though we never thought of losing our faith in Him, yet it was the But God” that kept us in this trial.
That is exactly what Paul was warning the Thessalonians about—not giving up your faith! The church has always tribulated through the trials of life “But God”.