My Favorite Two Words

My favorite two words... These two words made themselves known to me during middle school and kept popping up since. When I find these words. I always underline and circle and highlight them. They changed my life, and right now, I will share them with you. Are you ready?

But God. 



What? Two three-letter words changed my life? And these words seem so unsuspecting, so ordinary. But listen as I pour out to you the power of these two words.

The words "but God," "but the Lord," or "but Jesus" appear, in that order, 231 times in the NLT translation of the Bible and I didn't even count all of the times that God say "but I." From Genesis to Revelation, these two word provide a transition that almost always points to Jesus and His grace, and that, my friends, prompts me to fall in love with them! They hold power in our everyday lives because they hold power in Jesus. Let me explain by unpacking the first "but God" moment in scripture, found in Genesis 2 and 3.

God created the world. He, out of His power and imagination, made countless types of creatures and plants. He invented the idea of time, and He made a world much larger than we can even know. And then He created something special, something in His own image, man. He created a worshiper, a fellow creator, and an emotional, rational, being like Himself, only on a much, much smaller scale.

And it was good. No, it was very good.

God could have left it there. He could have called it a day, and we would have worshipped Him in perfection forever, BUT GOD, chose to give us a choice. He chose to let us choose Him, which also meant that He chose to let us not choose Him. He gave us freedom and responsibility that He did not have to give us, for we could have lived like the angels, who always worship God but also don't have much of a choice. But God decided that He wanted us. He wanted a relationship with us; He wanted to love us, and He wanted us to love Him back, so He gave us a choice.

"But the Lord God warned him, 'You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden- except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of its fruit, you are sure to die." (Genesis 2:16, NLT)

And we, like the small creations that we are, chose wrong.

"The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too." (Genesis 3:6, NLT) 

We chose a life apart from God, our Creator. We thought that we knew better, but how could the creation know better than the Creator? And right here, things got messy. Adam and Eve hid away and tried to cover themselves, but they couldn't hide from their own sins. They couldn't fix themselves. But just wait, for beauty comes out of this mess. 

"But the Lord God called to the man, 'Where are you?'" (Genesis 3:9, NIV) 


Where are you? 

Obviously, God knew where Adam hid. He knew what mankind did, so He didn't ask this question for His own sake. So then, I must ask, for whose sake did He ask the question? 

Man. 

Man sinned. Man dishonored God, rebelled, rolled in the mire of sin, and looked despicable and ugly. Man certainly didn't deserve any grace from God; for, after all, God warned us about this sin. So man hid in shame of sin, afraid of what God would do. 

But God came. 

But God sought. 

But God invited. 

I believe that God asked this question in order to invite mankind back into a relationship with Him. He sought us out and made a way for us to come to Him in confession because, incomprehensible to my mind, God loved us. He loves us. 

Now Adam and Eve didn't respond very well to this invitation In fact, mankind rebuked God's invitation to a relationship with Himself again and again (just read pretty much the whole Old Testament). But God pursued. 

And God also knew that one day, He would come in the form of a man, that He would seek from the height of the cross, and that He would invite in front of an empty tomb. God knew from the beginning what path He started, that it would lead to His death. He had already planned out the story, but God chose and pursued us. But God went beyond what we can comprehend to bring grace to the ugly and beauty to the mess. But God. 

Please live in the "But God" moments. Let the grace of God transform your mess into beauty by His power. Let Him chose you and pursue you. And then respond to His invitation with worship. There you will find grace; in the arms of a God full of love you will find a new life to give back over to Him. But God. Know it, believe it, live it. 

I will be studying the "but God" moments throughout scripture for the next while, and I feel so excited to understand and live in God's grace as I discover His character! Comment below if you would like to hear more "but God" moments on the blog, and also comment a "but God" moment you've discovered in the Bible or in life! I love you guys! 

Princess Hannah