When You Know God Can, but You Don’t Know If He Will

Breaking the Unbreakable — Devotional Echo

Primary Scripture: Daniel 3:17–18 (KJV)

There is a story in the Bible I often return to when I don’t understand what God is doing. It’s the account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

I’ve reflected on this story before through my anthem Watch This, which focuses on the remarkable moment when God delivered these three men from the fiery furnace. But as much as I love that part of the story, there’s something about what happened before they entered the fire that has become especially meaningful to me.

Over the years, I’ve realized that believing God can change a situation and knowing whether He will are two very different things. I don’t struggle with believing in His ability. I’ve read the Scriptures, witnessed His faithfulness, and experienced enough in my own life to know that God is capable of doing things far beyond my understanding.

What I struggle with is not knowing what He is going to do, especially when it involves something or someone I deeply care about.

When you know God can, but you don’t know if He will, it can test the very foundation of your faith.

In Daniel 3, King Nebuchadnezzar commanded everyone to bow before a golden image, and anyone who refused would be thrown into a burning fiery furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were well aware of the consequences, but they refused to worship the image.

When they were brought before the king, their response revealed something remarkable about their faith.

Daniel 3:17–18 (KJV)

“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.”

But if not.

Those three words have stayed with me throughout my own walk with God.

These men had complete confidence in God’s ability to deliver them, but they also understood that He might not spare them from the furnace. They weren’t questioning His power or His authority. They simply weren’t making their obedience dependent on being rescued.

Their decision had already been made. They would not bow, even if it cost them their lives.

I think we often read this story with an advantage those three men didn’t have. We already know how it ends. We know about the fourth man in the fire, that the flames didn’t consume them, and that they eventually walked out unharmed.

But they didn’t know any of that when they stood before Nebuchadnezzar. They had no assurance that they would survive what was about to happen.

Their faithfulness was settled before they ever saw the miracle.

That’s the part I return to when life doesn’t make sense, especially when I’ve prayed about something for a long time and still cannot see how God is working.

Maybe you’ve been there too. You’ve prayed for healing, for a loved one to change, or for a relationship to be restored. You believe God has the power to intervene, and you’ve asked Him to do exactly that. Yet as time passes and the circumstances remain unchanged, you begin to wrestle with a question you may not even want to acknowledge.

What if He doesn’t?

What if the healing never comes, the relationship isn’t restored, or the situation ends in a way you never imagined?

I don’t believe asking those questions means we’ve lost our faith. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego acknowledged the possibility that God might not rescue them, yet their commitment to Him never changed.

I’ve had to remind myself of something over the years, and I tend to say it rather plainly.

Either God is God, or this is all fake.

I don’t say that because I have everything figured out. Quite the opposite. It’s what brings me back to the foundation of what I believe when I cannot reconcile my circumstances with what I know God is capable of doing.

If God is truly God, then He doesn’t stop being God simply because I don’t understand His decisions.

That doesn’t mean I won’t struggle with disappointment, question why something happened, or grieve an outcome I desperately prayed would be different. There are things we experience in this life that leave us with questions we may never fully understand.

And I don’t believe we should pretend otherwise.

I can trust God’s character without claiming to understand every one of His decisions.

The beautiful ending of Daniel 3 is that God did deliver Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. When Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace, he saw four men walking where only three had been thrown. God intervened in a way no one expected.

But not every believer’s story ends with that kind of rescue. Faithful Christians have watched people they love suffer, carried prayers for years, and experienced losses they never imagined they would have to face.

We cannot take the miracle in Daniel 3 and turn it into a promise that every difficult circumstance will end the same way. What we can learn from these three men is that their faith was established in who God was, not in their ability to predict what He would do.

The greatest test of our faith may not be whether we believe God can deliver us, but whether we will remain faithful when we don’t know if He will.

Perhaps that’s where you find yourself today. You’re still praying, still hoping, and still believing God is able, but you’re facing the possibility that things may not turn out the way you’ve asked.

It’s difficult to come to terms with that possibility, particularly when the outcome matters so much. Yet we can continue bringing our requests before God while recognizing that our commitment to Him cannot depend entirely on receiving the answers we want.

I don’t know why God intervenes in some circumstances while others remain painfully unresolved. I cannot explain every disappointment, and I certainly don’t have an answer for every question I’ve asked Him.

What I do know is that my decision to trust Him cannot rest solely on what He does for me.

I trust God. I just don’t always have any idea what He’s doing.

And when I find myself facing something I cannot explain, I return to the words of three men who had no guarantee they would walk out of the fire.

But if not, I will still serve Him.

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A Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father,

You know the prayers I’ve prayed, the answers I’m waiting for, and the things I desperately want You to change. I believe You are able, even when I cannot see how You will work.

Help me remain faithful when the outcome is uncertain. Give me the courage to trust Your character when I cannot understand Your decisions, and remind me that my faith rests in who You are, not simply in what You do for me.

When I struggle with questions I cannot answer, help me remember that You are still God, even when I don’t understand.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.