How can you trust God in trials? In Even If, Mitchel Lee talks us through trusting God when life disappoints, overwhelms, or just doesn’t make sense.
Daniel 3
While writing about his own testimony and invoking a variety of illustrations, Lee brings us primarily to Daniel 3 to show how we can worship God even if God doesn’t rescue us from the fire. Lee is excellent at storytelling, and the 220-plus page book is a quick, compelling read.
I was most challenged when Lee wrote on resignation versus resolve. When we are faced with the fire, we must learn to preach to ourselves about God’s goodness and his great love for us. In many ways, this is a book about endurance and perseverance, holding on to the fact that God does not change.
Regret and Contentment
I was most moved to see how Lee wrote about regret. “Regret over a golden past is fed by discontentment with our present circumstances compared with where we believe we once were.” When we try to live out our imposter selves, we fail to remember that God is still good to us even now.
The connection between gratitude and contentment is explored, and we see that our current culture is programmed to make us discontent. As ads and marketing campaigns tell us we are incomplete, we need to trust that God is enough. These are sobering realities that must be confronted, even if our situations of suffering do not change.
God Can Handle Our Brokenness
Towards the end of the book, we are reminded that God can handle our brokenness. Asian Americans will find plenty of relatable content in the pages of this book, mostly from the stories of his Korean immigrant parents. But Lee writes with openness about his own disappointing job losses and broken relationships. He is relatable and writes with wisdom.
Fittingly, the book ends with prayers penned by Lee to help you when you can’t find the words to say to God. In this way, Lee doesn’t claim to be able to solve all of your problems. And he doesn’t promise that God will change your situation. But by the cross, we know God is merciful and gracious, and we wait for the day when he will make all things new — our hearts and the heavens.
I received a media copy of Even If and this is my honest review.
Watch SOLA Network’s interview with Mitchel Lee here: Finding Faith in the “Even If”: An Interview with Pastor and Author Mitchel Lee.