There’s a song that is played on Christian radio stations right now and if you listen to Christian radio at all, I know you have heard it. It’s called Even If by MercyMe. This is what that song says:
They say sometimes you win some
Sometimes you lose some
And right now, right now I'm losing bad
I've stood on this stage night after night
Reminding the broken it'll be alright
But right now, oh right now I just can't
It's easy to sing
When there's nothing to bring me down
But what will I say
When I'm held to the flame
Like I am right now
I know You're able and I know You can
Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone
They say it only takes a little faith
To move a mountain
Well good thing
A little faith is all I have, right now
But God, when You choose
To leave mountains unmovable
Oh give me the strength to be able to sing
It is well with my soul
I know the sorrow, and I know the hurt
Would all go away if You'd just say the word
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone
You've been faithful, You've been good
All of my days
Jesus, I will cling to You
Come what may
'Cause I know You're able
I know You can
As my family and were heading home from church one night, this song came on and even though I had heard it 100 times before, I was moved by these lyrics. I started thinking to myself, ‘even if something doesn’t go the way I may have planned for things to go, God is still God and he is still in control. See, we all have these dreams, thoughts about our lives, the things in our lives, the people in our lives. But God likes to come in and make us better than before. He likes to grow us. He likes to help us. And in the moments of growth and remolding, it might not seem like he has our best interest at heart, but he always does. It might seem ugly, mean, it might hurt…growing pains always do, but when God is in control, the outcome will always be better than anything we could do by ourselves. That song says that if God chooses to leave “mountains unmovable, give me the strength to sing it is well with my soul.” If God chooses not to move a mountain you thought should be moved, are we going to stand there and refuse to praise him? Refuse to allow him control over the situation? Or will we pray for the strength to sing praises unto to him anyways? God is intentional. God created us on purpose, for a purpose. Therefore, he will never leave or forsake us. His creating us also means that he knows what it best for us. The bible tells us that “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” It takes loads of faith to trust God with a future we cannot imagine for ourselves, but God is someone we can pour all of our faith into and he will never let us down. He will never give us a reason not to trust him, his word, or his promises. The bible says in Hebrews 10:23, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
Today I ask you this question, “EVEN IF God doesn’t have the same plans for your life as you do, will you go forward with him, trusting him, giving him praise in the good and the tough seasons?” Because I know that if you have faced some hard times in your life at all, you know that God didn’t let you down. He didn’t leave you. He didn’t give you a reason not to trust him fully. The situation may have gotten tough. It may have seemed like God left you. Things may not have ended up the way you planned. But God never left. He was right there holding you through the flame. He was protecting you from a different outcome. Even if life doesn’t go our way, let us remember that we can give our lives over to God and be confident that he knows our end, just as he knew our beginning, and our middle. Let us always, even when we feel we have no more inside of us, lift up a praise that says, “it is well with my soul.”
**I do not own the rights to this song.
He gives us Roots so we can Fly. Roots and Wings.
