I have been bothered by something lately. Miracles. We read about them in the Bible, we believe them because we have faith, we pray for them when people are sick, we pray for them people have "gone astray" and we even pray for them when people's spirits have been burned. If we don't believe it why do we pray for it?
I have come to see something for the first time concerning miracles. We believe it can happen BEFORE it does, we believe it happened when it's OVER but where the heck is our faith in the midst of it? I'm not talking about the sick person who over night seems to be getting better, it's easy to believe God is part of that because we can write it off if we need to. A miracle disguised in natural processes. I'm talking about the people pray specifically for someone to be free from a certain sin when there is no explanation as to why anyone should know about the sin in that persons life. I'm talking about the people who seem to always be in the right place at the right time to save people. I'm talking about believing what we pray for. Having an expectant faith.
If we would have an expectant faith, would we then be more of a people who see the bread breaking as the 5,000 are being fed, who see the footprints on top of the water as Jesus is walking out to us and who watch the woman at the well spread the word of Christ, or would be still be the people we are, who pray but do not believe until the result is showcased?
I don't know where I fall into all of this. I fear that skepticism has taken over expectation for far too long in my life. What I am finding now, is that in the midst of a miracle my passion for people to believe in Him and my desire to expect God to complete something he has started in the people I care about has fed my spirit in a way that fires me up about my faith! Our human nature drives us to the cynical prayers. No doubt those prayers will always be around but how long do we go on sitting and letting Satan jog around our faith, every now and then poking at it planting seeds of doubt and skepticism in our lass than expectant faith. I'm done with it. For now I will stand strong in the expectant faith God calls me to and I will have no doubt in my mind that God will fulfill his promises in my life. I will expect God to finish what he started.
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- Mandy
- I love life and I love the Lord! I pray that everyday of my life I am reflecting the love Christ has shown me.
2 comments:
Kudos for such a challanging thought. I'd be interested in knowing what the greek word for "miracle." Why? Because I'm a geek, but also because I want to know what the word meant to the people back then. Does God expect us to realize a miracle as it is happening? As I recall, it seems as though miracles were declared after their occurance. It is easy for us as an audience to read the Bible and label a miracle accurately. Even the writers of the Gospels who wrote about miracles were writing in hindsight knowing what was a miracle or not.
What were the disciples thinking when they witnessed during the feeding of the 5000. Did they realize only after the fact? What was Jonah thinking when he was in the whale? What did Gideon think when he was walking around the wall? What were the Israelites thinking when they were in the desert. Did anyone recognize that they were in the makes of a miracle? I think faith plays a role in it; that's where you make a great point. Our skepticism and bored hearts seem to lack the faith it takes to recognize miracles. Wasn't that Jesus' response after the people didn't get it? Oh you guys, get some faith will ya?
Ok wow, rambling. Thanks for the thoughts cuz. You're a Blessing.
Heart,
Cuz
Mandy,
Funny, I've been thinking about miracles myself lately. We often see miracles through a bizarre Deist lens that says: "miracles are an violation of the natural order." I've come to see miracles as merely a time when God choses to go about His work in an unusual way. If God manages the creation all the time, then everything is miraculous. Some miracles are just more unusual or noticable than others. I choose to believe that I live in a world where the miraculous in the norm, not the exception. Go Mandy!
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