In 2019 I bought a new car. Scratch that. In 2019 I was highly encouraged to buy a new car. I panicked, I procrastinated, I prayed, I made a pros and cons list, I fretted all night, I got sick to my stomach, and then I bought a brand spanking new, previously owned car – his name is Benny Boy.

I admit that most changes in my life (even the good ones) are met with panicked, sleepless nights. Change often brings with it some form of chaos: a new routine, a lack of resources, a need for new boundaries and honest conversations, the realization of my inabilities and shortcomings, and a few painful bumps and bruises along the way. All of these factors, combined with a more hesitant personality, create emotional chasms where I start feeling overwhelmed and fearful when change is on the horizon. One day, while asking God to help me understand why I’m so fearful of change, I began to realize that I fear change because I don’t want to fail, I don’t want to get hurt, and I don’t want to suffer.

The last few years have been tumultuous for most of us. We’ve lost jobs or moved houses. We’ve made one thousand decisions about one thousand things we’ve never experienced before. We’ve watched gas prices ebb and flow, wars and riots break out across the world, and countries twist and turn with suffering.

Many of us might trust God’s faithfulness in the midst of it all, but I think some of us might also admit we haven’t escaped without growing fearful (or failing, or being hurt, or experiencing some measure of suffering ourselves). As I tend to my wounded pride and unsettled heart from this past season I’ve begun to wonder, if we trust God, what are we trusting Him for?  

Three young men in the Old Testament had one of the answers I think. While being threatened with the cost of their very lives, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego soberly replied, “If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:18). These men trusted God for more than their well-being in this life.

When I started to realize that God’s good and perfect will could include catastrophic “but if not” moments in our lives, I felt as if all the safety nets guarding my peace of mind had been removed. Without the guarantee of protection in this life, making decisions, facing changes, or looking ahead to the future starts to feel overwhelming, making those emotional chasms feel even more unavoidable.

So what do we hold on to knowing that while God is able to rescue us, He also allows us to fail, to be hurt, and to suffer? What comforts us as we grapple with the painful “but if not” moments of the past and anticipate more “but if not” moments in the future? Beyond their well-being, what did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego trust God for?  I believe that ultimately, no matter what happened at that moment, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego trusted that God would save their souls.

Even in the most difficult moments of life, we can trust God with our souls. Peter encouraged the Roman believers who were facing immense persecution to, “Let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Peter 4:19). Even Jesus Himself, after facing impossible torture still entrusted His soul to His Father: “‘Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit’” (Luke 23:46). Our safety net in this life, for those who trust in Jesus, is that God will protect our souls each day and will safely carry us through a physical death into eternal life (where our bodies will one day be resurrected and forever safe as well!).

God cares about our vehicles, our fears, our worries, and our sleepless nights. He’s able to provide, redeem, rescue, and protect us in this life. Yet, like Peter, Jesus, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we trust our Father for more than that. We trust that He alone is our Creator, that He alone moves in ways we don’t always understand, and He alone will rescue our souls through Jesus. He is worthy of our trust, even through fearful circumstances, failures, hurts, and suffering, not because He’ll always provide safety in this life, but because ultimately our souls are eternally safe with Him.