When we pray, or at least when I pray, there is a tendency to present God with a 'to do' list of requests, fully expecting that some will at least be answered. The more we ask, the better the chances that at least a few will find God's ear, and we will get the reply we want.
One of the biggest words in the Bible is 'if'. A small word, but with a hefty punch. Jesus used it in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed just before His arrest. He asked His Father to remove the cup of a cruel death from Him, but also said, “If it be Thy will”. The Old Testament tells of the words of the three who were put into the fiery furnace to roast. Their prayer was that they believed their God is able to deliver them, and then these words, “but if not”. This was not a sign of a weak faith, but the evidence of a strong faith. Strong enough to take it if or when the answer is not what we want, and still believe strongly in the judgement of our God!
Maybe you have been Blessed to have come across this kind of prayer, either in someone you admire (how can you not admire such faith?) or love. Maybe you have prayed it yourself, when your back is to the wall, and there is nowhere else to go, but to the Lord. Then you will also know that the faith required to say “If not....” is no small thing. I would also suggest however, that God will honour these prayers from a contrite and hungry heart, and perhaps more so than when He is given a 'to do' list.
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Dan 3:17-18 (KJV)
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