“For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.’” This quote from John Greenleaf Whittier was on Jeopardy, and it’s stuck with me. The four saddest words are simple, yet profound. What comes to mind when you hear ‘it might have been?’ For me, I think of finishing the sentence, and featured in each thought is the word ‘if’. It might have been easier if, or it might have been different if, or if not for God, it might have been worse.
The word ‘if’ is tiny, but mighty. It can turn a situation into a reason for gratitude, a loss into a testimony, or a humiliation into an intimate moment at God’s feet.
If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home. For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.
Psalms 91:9-11 NLT
The Benefits of IF
If the Lord is our refuge and the Most High our shelter, there is divine protection available to us. We may not see it at the time. But perhaps later we hear about a car accident in an area we’d just driven through. Life might have been more difficult. Things might have been tragic. But, with God on our side we find protection from what ‘might have been.’ With Him, we find hope, peace, restoration, and joy.
The greatest tragedy I can envision would be for Jesus to say, “I never knew you.” Truly those are the four saddest words. If (that tiny but mighty word) we want to avoid that fate, we need a life rooted in the Word of God to guarantee we’ll never hear those four tragic words. Imagine with me, how joyful it will be for Jesus to say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” Let’s work on that, let’s build a relationship with God so strong, that it resonates for eternity!