With God all things are possible. Matthew 19:26
Miracles are those biblical God-things of the past, right? That’s what some people believe.
While we may or may not experience the “mountain-moving” kind of miracles in our lifetime–the kind that leave your mouth gaping, your heart throbbing, and your doctor scratching his head in disbelief–does that negate Jesus’s power to accomplish them? Absolutely not!
As a Christian I’ve witnessed Jesus’s miracles in my own life. I’m sure you have too. But at times I may overlook the hidden ones. Jesus may send a God-thing on the wings of pain or interruption. Sometimes He sandwiches miracles into an ordinary day like the filling of an Oreo cookie. What a sweet, creamy surprise when we receive it as a gift from Him!
One problem in not recognizing miracles may be our shortsighted, earthly perspective. We pray for a raise or new job as a cure for our financial troubles and see no answer. But do we fail to connect the dots when repairs, doctor bills, and other usual expenses mysteriously disappear the next year? Sometimes the miracle may even arrive through God’s formation of Christ-like character in our own lives.
Jesus still does the impossible. Even He prayed for a miracle–some other way for His Father to accomplish salvation besides Jesus’s death (see Luke 22:42). But God controlled the power of life and death and planned a greater miracle: Jesus’s death and subsequent resurrection.
We ask and we wait… and then, like Jesus, we whisper that miracle prayer, “But if not… Thy will be done.”
Sometimes God gives us a knowing word. However, trusting God’s sovereignty is perhaps one of the hardest parts of the Christian life. Yet it’s truly where miracles begin.
Faith step: As you think back over the past year in your own life, what are some God-things you recognize as miracles? What are you trusting God for this year?
