“My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:26 (NIV)
There are numerous accounts in the entire bible when calamities and hardships came upon God’s people, who had no where to turn, but God stepped in to deliver them, and His deliverance begins with two words, “but God…”
As we put our hope in God, those two words keep us from giving up. The words, but God, reveal a powerful and particular meaning to each of us. God is not just standing by watching us struggle, but He is about to step into our situation and make a difference.
It means that whatever we are facing, whether illness, pain, grief, loss, chaos, fear, the attack of an enemy, financial loss, depression or emotional anxiety, His help is on the way, and it all begins with the phrase, “but God….”
It’s a phrase that we read many times in scripture, in various situations, but it keeps us holding on to a hope that is within us, that God knows us, loves us and wants to intervene in our lives out of His great mercy. He has done it before, and He will do it again.
The problem may look bleak,
“but God” is about to step in, to give us strength and deliverance as these scriptures declare:
“Day after day Saul searched for
him, but God did not give David into his hands.”
(1 Samuel 23:14)
Joseph said to his brothers, years later, after they had sold him into slavery, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”
(Genesis 50:20)
“but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.”
(1 Corinthians 10:13)
“but God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
(Romans 5:8)
“but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loves us, made us alive with Christ”….
(Ephesians 2:4-5)
In the same sentence that Jesus told us the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, He implies “but He”came so that we might have life more abundantly.
Each time we read “but God”, He is telling us that in any dilemma, it’s never the end of the story. We can look to the Lord, telling Him how severe our need or problem is, but God knows what He is about to do. Out of His great love and mercy, He intervenes to give us strength, healing, deliverance, comfort and peace.
As we apply this phrase to all the needs in our life, it helps keep our hope in the Lord, who never fails us, but is our heart’s strength and portion forever.
Lord, restore our hope and remind us that You are not finished yet, as we believe and speak these words of faith, “but God”….believing a miracle is on the way. Amen
