But God ...

You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact! ¹

These strong words were spoken by Peter to an astonished crowd who had just witnessed the miraculous healing of a man, a lame man, made well by faith in Jesus' name. This same crowd was likely numbered among those who had cried out, "Crucify him!" at Jesus' kangaroo trial, the trial that led to his crucifixion. The innocent Lamb of God was nailed to a cross, died upon that cross, and was buried dead.

But God ...

What man might kill, God is able to raise from the dead! Our lives are not at the mercy and whim of man; they rest under the sovereign hand of God, guided on the course laid out by kindly and loving Divine Providence. The future of our job, provision during our retirement, challenges in our marriage, the ups and downs of our finances, our dreams - broken and realized, and even our disappointments all belong in the hands of the one who is able to do more than we can ask or even imagine. ² He alone is able to not only answer our prayers, but also able to carry our burdens.

Do you have a "But God ..." in your life?

Three years ago, I lay in a hospital bed with severe COVID-19. I could feel life ebbing away from me as I faced death's portal. My lungs were 25% filled with COVID pneumonia. My fever was soaring to 102°. I was scared.

But God ...

The week before I went into the hospital the Lord had sovereignly led me to 2 Corinthians 1:9, where it is written,

Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

He delivered me from that hospital bed and for that I am grateful. During that time a valuable truth began to grow in my heart and mind: I can, and must, rely not on my own ability to navigate life, but on the God who raised Christ and who will, one day, raise me.

Death, life's final corruption, is not an insurmountable mountain or unconquerable foe to God. He's proven that in Christ's resurrection. We all face loss, disappointments dealt by life's imperfections. Those "dead" things are best left in the hands of the God who raises the dead. Like Abraham who hoped against all hope in the face of death, ³ will you trust God, the God who raises the dead, with the unfair situations, hurts, and injustices in your life? Will you trust your future with him?

Will you trust that for every hard thing in your life, there is a "But God ..."?

References

¹ Acts 3:15

² Ephesians 3:20 - Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us ...

³ Romans 4:18-19 - Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.