While contemplating several instances of life, these two words came to mind--
BUT GOD.
I chuckled to myself as it seemed such a contrast could be envisioned simply from placing emphasis differently.
My first thought was in regards to a particular situation which, no doubt, could be affiliated with any one of us.
We find ourselves in the midst of a life crisis and it seems all hope could be lost...BUT GOD intervenes out of the blue; we breathe a sigh of relief and are ever so thankful to know He is ultimately still in control.
We reflect back over what could've been the outcome had God not stepped up to the plate for us and rescued us from ourselves.
Scary thought, isn't it? It is for me.
I can remember more than once my ship was sinking, BUT GOD showed up with a plug as in a leaking dike and stopped the inevitable from happening.
Although the cynics stood back with folded arms just waiting to voice their negativity, it seemed after all was said and done, the chips fell in my favor.
It wasn't anything I did, per se, except continue to hold to the unchanging hand of God...BUT GOD, rich in love and mercy extended His bountiful grace to once again ignite the blue flame in my behalf.
See, our perspectives in life tend to make us or break us. We are all alike, even though we are different.
We are all made from dust, and to dust we shall return...whether through cremation or being put six feet under in a coffin.
The soul, on the other hand, never dies. The soul is the real individual, destined for eternal life in heaven with Jesus, our Savior and great God, or hell with the prince of this world and all who reject salvation through Jesus' shed blood on the cross.
Technically, it makes no difference what we strive to attain in this life. Without BUT GOD moments of divine intervention, we may impress our fellow man with our great feats and accomplishments, but we will never truly accomplish our God given purpose otherwise.
See, BUT GOD action in our lives denotes a lessening of self-sufficiency and a broadening of God dependency.
The only way God can truly bring about His divine will and purpose in our lives is through our willful self submission to Him.
Oh yeah! And truthfully, not too many of us are willing to surrender that aspect of our ego unless or until some event consumes us, of which we have no control.
Just use the incident which the disciple Peter encountered on the Sea of Galilee. He was a experienced fisherman, very adept of the sea and all the aspects of maneuvering a boat, nets, etc. for the benefit of personal gain, and proud of his expertise.
Matthew 14:14-33 gives the account of the miracle where Jesus fed 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, which no doubt made an indelible impression upon his disciples as well as the multitude.
Then immediately Jesus tells his disciples to go over to the other side and he would meet them there.
After Jesus dispersed the crowd, he went to pray...let me interject a question here...how many times do we consider prayer essential when we experience a high? No doubt Peter and the others were boasting of this great miracle they had just participated in while they're out in their boat, their familiar zone, headed to the shore
to wait on Jesus.
Jesus, on the other hand, always made time for prayer. He wasn't patting Himself on the chest, commending Himself for the great feat He had just produced. Miracles are second nature to Jesus--hmmm, should we as followers of Christ (as Christians) not realize daily we experience miracles as well?
Anyway, to get back to my point, after Jesus prayed, He began to walk out to where the boat was, finding a storm had brewed, and the winds and waves were rocking that thing like a cradle!
At first the disciples were frightened, thinking they saw a ghost, but Peter recognized him and immediately, still no doubt feeling somewhat superior from the miracle of the earlier hour, spoke up and defied the odds!
He stepped out of the boat into the unstable waters and, truthfully, he probably felt like he had the world by the tail...until he took his eyes off Jesus and put them on his surroundings! Uh oh! Do you see a correlation here?
Peter immediately began to sink...BUT GOD...yep, Peter had a BUT GOD moment. He had defied the odds, so he thought.
Had he kept his eyes on the prize, he no doubt would've experienced another miracle, of walking on the water with his Master.
Only when Peter realized where he was; out of the boat (his safe zone), what he had done; taken his eyes off Jesus and started looking at the storm (his distraction), how he was going to survive; call on Jesus and reach up for his Masters hand (his salvation), did he find his miracle!
Jesus took him by the hand and they walked back to the boat, and Jesus calmed the storm with just the words that He spoke. So here Peter experienced 3 miracles instead of 1.
Of course, as is the case with us, we get a touch from God, we start soaring, then we get our wings clipped. Know why? For a BUT GOD moment. Do we view it as such?
Most times, most of us--no.
We begin to whine and moan and complain...hey, been there, done that, so I'm speaking from experience.
BUT GOD...Ephesians chapter 2 explains it so much better than I can!
And I do like The Voice version, to put it in a more modern day terminology.
If you've never read it, look it up on www.biblegateway.com.
Now I want to look briefly at the contrast I spoke of initially from placing emphasis differently.
When we use "BUT, GOD!"as a defense mechanism, as a rebuttal you might say, it takes on a different connotation.
Let's look at an illustration for clarity, perhaps.
The 10 Commandments were given as a rule of obedience which still serves all of Christendom today.
I won't divulge the entirety here and now, again a good read for you, who perhaps aren't familiar with scripture, will do well to read it in The Voice version, Exodus 20:1-17.
In our modern world today, anything that is declared from the Word of God is seemingly demeaned by "BUT, GOD!"
Society says today there are many ways to God and even that there is more than one God.
When the Bible totally refutes these heresies, the rebuttal is, "BUT, GOD!"
The Bible says in the first commandment that God is the only God, we don't bow down to any other god, neither make unto ourselves any graven image of another god.
Jesus even reiterated the commandments, saying he came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it.
As you watch our distorted news media today, it's repulsive to see how they are feeding the frenzies which are aiding and abetting the apostasy, the great falling away spoken of in scripture.
Don't be deceived...don't follow the crowds, going down the broad way.
When judgment day comes, there will be no rebuttal which will stand the test of eternal torment in the flames of hell.
Do you see the positivity of the use of BUT GOD in contrast to the negativity of "BUT, GOD!"
I trust your gift of discernment will give you insight into the choices arising in the church as well as our society today!
We are free moral agents, and God will let us choose...it's all about perspectives--BUT GOD...or "BUT, GOD!"
D. S. Mullis
copyright.2016
