When God doesn’t act in the way we’d want, or even in the way we’d expect from what we know about Him, it can be challenging to our faith. Atheists feast on these challenges, being quick to point out times where God’s actions (or supposed inactions) make little sense to us as humans. Many Christians have their faith shaken when a request is seemingly ignored. Trusting in God isn’t always easy.

In the book of Daniel we see three faithful Jewish men – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – who took a stand by refusing to bow to King Nebuchadnezzar’s idol. For their defiance they were sentenced to be thrown into a fiery furnace with the King’s challenge, “What god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?” (Daniel 3:15).

Their response showed some of the greatest faith in the entire Bible, and the structure of it gives us a two word template for the requests we bring before God.

If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18).

If…

But…

In the face of a gruesome death, they acknowledged that God was certainly capable of saving them (“If”). But they didn’t presume to speak for Him. They accepted that saving them might not be His plan, and if not it wouldn’t shake their faith (“But”).

The “If” statement expresses two things. First, it expresses that we have a preference for how we would like things to go with the implication that we believe God loves us and listens to our requests. Second, we affirm our belief that God is all-powerful to accomplish anything that is asked of us.

In the “But” statement we acknowledge that while God is all-powerful, He’s also all-knowing and His agenda might not align with ours. In that moment we’re expressing the realization that God knows things we don’t know and sees things we don’t see.

So many misunderstandings of faith would be solved by an understanding of these two points. Those who deny God and His goodness deny either that He is loving or powerful because He doesn’t always act as mankind thinks He should. Those who have a prosperity view of God preach that He will give whatever we ask if we have enough faith, leading many to doubt or deny God when He doesn’t come through. That’s not what trust looks like, though.

Trust in God means acknowledging that even if He doesn’t respond the way I’d like, it doesn’t mean He doesn’t love me, isn’t listening, or isn’t powerful enough. It just means His purposes aren’t always the same as mine.

This structure occurs in other moments of great faith in the Bible as well. In the Garden, Jesus’ prayer was “If possible, let this cup pass from me… But not My will, but Yours be done” (Matthew 26:39, Mark 14:36, Luke 22:42). Paul’s request regarding the thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12 bears a similar structure. There’s the repeated request to have it taken from him (the “If”) and the acknowledgement that the “No” he received was God’s good and perfect will (the “But”).

Like Jesus, like Paul, and like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, our prayers should follow this structure:

“If You will, Father, ___________. But if not, help me remember you’re still in control.”

In uttering such prayers we acknowledge that God is God with our request, and most importantly we continue to let God be God with the results. There’s no guarantee that the results are always going to be what we want, but we can be fully assured that no matter what happens, God will use the result to His glory, and that’s what’s best for us and everyone else.