Seven-Day Practical Faith Blog: But God

A favored saying these days is, "But God." It's an expression of faith indicating our belief that God prevails and provides, no matter the situation, in surprising ways.

However, there's another way to say "But God," and it's not as faithful. In fact, it's the opposite.

"But God" can be said as a protest. As doubt. As a way of saying, "My will be done, because your will isn't happening fast enough or isn't working for me or. . ."

Recent podcast guest Jake Doberenz talked about how we set up idols that need smashing. Doberenz said:

“Idols are things in our lives that we want to control, and we fear the alternative if we don’t control them. They are either over Jesus, or we sneak them in next to Jesus, use them as a backup plan to hedge our bets, an extra option, because I think at our core as humans, we have a very hard time trusting God fully. So we want something else to protect us."

Doberenz gave several examples, including our worries over money (or our greed) and our belief that if we just get the right person in office or the right political policies in place, everything will be fine.

Doberenz calls these idols. In my book, "From Comfort Zone to Trust Zone," I call them comfort zones. For our protection, we crave certainty, status, and political views favorable to us. We've become comfortable with judging others, doing what feels best, and ignoring Jesus's calls to take risks for him. We resist giving up safety, privilege, and separation from others unlike us or who disagree with us.

But God. . .we just don't trust you enough. We keep reading the parts of the Bible that support our viewpoint and avoid the complex thinking required when we read parts that contradict us. We favor discord instead of gentleness, hatred instead of love, envy instead of joy, dissension instead of peace, and fits of rage instead of self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). And by the way, God, you just don't move fast enough to suit us.

We're kind of a hot mess, really.

Let's challenge ourselves to identify our idols. Where are we hedging our bets on God? Are we elevating our idols next to or above Jesus? Can we pray about this topic and accept the Spirit's convicting feedback?

Above all, in every bit of our seven-day practical faith journey, let's repeatedly choose the trusting way to use "But God."

You can find my conversation with Jake Doberenz by visiting CecilTaylorMinistries. com/podcast or by searching for Practical Faith Academy on major podcast platforms.