The “But God” Factor
Many of us have favorite verses from the Bible, favorite books, favorite chapters. Perhaps you favor either the New or the Old Testament over the other. But you could break down the countless words between the covers of the Holy Scriptures into favorite increments much smaller than any of those more sizable divisions. For example, just a pair of words is high on my biblical favorites list. These two words speak volumes. Without them, my faith and understanding of the power of the Almighty might lack a certain richness. It is this duo of just three letters each: “But God.”
They appear several times together throughout the Bible and indicate God’s transformative power. They provide the necessary bridge, a path of rescue, between something hopeless, devoid of joy, light, and life that ushers the reader, or the subject of the passage, into assurance, gladness, and radiant living. “But God” forms the hinge that swings the door the other way when things seem impossibly closed.
If you know God is there and that He cares, it makes all the difference. One might call it the “But God factor.” Yes, the circumstances are daunting, but God is greater than the circumstances. These are challenging times, but God knows your needs, and He is a God who provides. People may forsake you, but God never will.
An online article from the WashingtonTimes.com website reported the following:
A study by Rush University Medical Center in Chicago found that “belief in a concerned God can improve response to medical treatment” in patients diagnosed with clinical depression. The operative word here is “caring,” the researchers said. “The study found that those with strong beliefs in a personal and concerned God were more likely to experience improvement.”
“In our study, the positive response to medication had little to do with the feelings of hope that typically accompanies spiritual belief,” said study director Patricia Murphy. “It was tied specifically to the belief that a Supreme Being cared.”
Van Morris, Mount Washington, Kentucky; source: Jennifer Harper, “Studies: Belief in God Relieves Depression,” WashingtonTimes.com
It should not surprise Christians that it doesn’t do much good to believe in a God who doesn’t care. Yet, since we know God cares, it makes those two little words we’ve been talking about immensely powerful.
For example, in Ephesians, the “But God factor” is demonstrated about as clearly as in any other instance in Scripture. Paul describes our condition before Christ as being “dead…indulging in the desires of the flesh…children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:1-3), among other things; A bad situation. But then, hope bursts forth in the form of those powerful words, and everything changes.
Is there any doubt that we have a caring God when Paul writes, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…” (Ephesians 2:4)? [emphasis added] God abundantly demonstrates His caring as He uses His power to make…
“…us alive together with Christ … and [raise] us up with Him, and [seat] us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5-7).
What a difference two words make! We would still be dead, indulging in the flesh and facing God’s wrath, but God! So a two-word response on our part is appropriate here: Praise God!
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” —Romans 5:8