But If Not

Photo by Masoud Nikookalam

“If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up” (Daniel 3:17–18 NRSV).

“But if not.” In contexts like the story in chapter 3 of the book of Daniel, this is, at least to me, an alarming phrase.

The book of Daniel is a tale about a group of Jews that were forced to serve in the royal court of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, following his conquest of the kingdom of Judah in the early 6th century BCE. The central protagonist of the story is, of course, Daniel. But Daniel had three friends who, like him, found themselves in a foreign land, representing a conquered people.

Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were their names. However, they were renamed by Nebuchadnezzar as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; their newly given names being a demonstration of his dominance over them.

Notwithstanding the tragedy of being subjugated persons exiled from their homeland, as a testimony to God’s providential care, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego eventually rise to prominence, being granted by the king authority “over the affairs of the province of Babylon” (Daniel 2:49 NRSV). But this did not sit well with certain native Babylonian officials in the king’s court, and they made trouble.

When Nebuchadnezzar erected a statue dedicated to himself and decreed that everyone should bow down and worship it, these officials informed him that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to do so. Enraged, the king confronted them and threatened to throw them into a burning furnace if they were intent on not worshiping the statue.

In response, they offered no defense for their defiance but firmly stated that regardless of the outcome they were not going to worship the statue.

Nebuchadnezzar subsequently threw them into the furnace. However, they were miraculously delivered, remaining unharmed by the fire. Their divine rescue impressed the king so much that he not only rescinded their death sentence but issued another decree that their God was to be venerated by all. He also promoted them to even higher positions than they had before.

A happy ending.

But what if the story went differently? What if they were thrown into the furnace by the king and experienced a tortuous death?

Importantly, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego already experienced circumstances in which miraculous deliverance never came. Their country was conquered. Many were slaughtered. They were exiled. They were now no longer free persons but obliged to serve a foreign king.

In this light, the caveat in their response to Nebuchadnezzar is more understandable: God can save us, but even if he doesn’t (like before) we are still going to remain faithful to him.

Unlike the trio in the book of Daniel (and many Christians throughout the world), I’ve never had my life threatened for my faith. Nevertheless, there have been occasions where I was confident that God not only could but should act in a certain way to bring about my deliverance from a difficulty.

Such a perspective is clearly not without biblical warrant. Indeed, the raw honesty that demands God to act on one’s behalf amid suffering is a hallmark of a good number of the psalms. However, the part of the Bible (found in the psalms too) that I have been less enthusiastic to embrace is the “but if not” caveat.

It is easy to become apathetic when God doesn’t do what we think God ought. It is significantly more difficult to remain faithful when God doesn’t do what we think God ought.

Perhaps part of the reason for this dynamic is a misperception of faith as a “quid pro quo” arrangement between God and I: God, I will do this if you do that. We do see this sort of thinking in the Bible as well (see Genesis 28:10–12), but hardly in a way that serves as an example for God’s people. 

Rather, when praying shortly before his arrest and eventual crucifixion that God might keep him from this fate, Jesus exclaimed, “yet not what I want but what you want” (Mark 14:36, Matthew 26:39, and also Luke 22:43).

Jesus exemplified a “but if not” mindset, and it’s a mindset I hope to fully attain. And yet, the “but if not” caveat itself has exceptions. Helping us arrive at a place where we can confidently affirm the resoluteness of our faith regardless of what God may or may not do, is something we can be sure God will always do for those who want it.