The Next Miracle

The Bible is chock-full of extra-ordinary stories involving fantastic miracles. Many of those miracles were initiated by God -- no petitions or fervent prayers from people. Think of the Israelites in Egypt. It wasn’t their idea -- or even Moses’ idea -- to bring on all the plagues, part the Red Sea, bring water out of rocks or make food fall from heaven. However, by the time the Israelites got to Jericho, God expected a little more from them; instead of “freebies”, God wanted faith partnership and trusting participation. In fact, God said that anyone who had witnessed what He had done in Egypt and in the desert and then doubted His ability and willingness to get them into Jericho would die in the desert. Not one of those people except Caleb and Joshua got to go in to the Promised Land. God called words lacking faith “wicked” and sentenced the speakers of those doubt-filled words to death outside of the miraculous fulfillment of God’s promise.¹

There is something to be learned from this: God wants us to remember what He has done for us in the past and use it to fuel and build our faith for the next miracle.

Right here is where many people will say “But I haven’t experienced any miracles!” And this is precisely where we need to stop and re-think. It is natural for people to take credit for successes, give the doctor or medication the credit for the healing, or call the great deal a bit of good luck. Unfortunately, it is just as common to blame God when things go badly. It is all too easy to chalk God’s gracious, miraculous gifts up to luck, the right people or our own feeble efforts and wonder why God never shows up. But there is no doubt that every human alive has been given some ‘freebies’ by the generosity of God and grace of Jesus. How many times have we robbed God of His proper credit and thanksgiving for the freebies or even worse, complained? Do you really believe it is possible to give God credit He doesn’t deserve for some good thing?² Can we really expect to receive more if we haven’t been grateful and faithful with our gratitude for what we have already been given?³ Assuredly not.

“Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.”

• • • Deuteronomy 14:21-23• • •

Jesus miraculously fed thousands, how many recognized the miracle they received? How many of those heard Jesus’ message, freely received, ate their fill, and walked away thinking nice thoughts but nothing more. Jesus instructed, “Freely you have received; freely give.”⁴ Jesus expects those who receive from Him to become conduits of His miraculous compassion, just as He received from His Father and became a conduit of the Father’s love and grace.⁵ That is what Jesus called fruit, and that is what glorifies God.⁶

If we do not even acknowledge that the gifts and blessings we already have are from God, those gifts and blessings cannot build our faith for the next answered prayer or miracle. If we refuse to acknowledge that God-given miracles are happening around us and to us, we will never have the faith to believe for the next miracle. And this is key, because at some point, the next miracle will require our faith.⁷ The freebies are there, but they are for beginners, to draw us into deeper faith. God expects us to grow and mature in our understanding of who we are in Him and faith.⁸

Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites for this very reason: they witnessed many miracles yet refused to believe and give God glory. They came up with every excuse – Jesus was demonic, operating in the power of Satan, He was a sinful law-breaker, He wasn’t “religious” or from the right town, etc. Like the Israelites, the Pharisees complained about something God had sent to bless them. In our current time period of ‘scientific’ discovery, it is human nature to discredit the super-natural or miraculous, but Christians aren’t supposed to be governed by their ‘human nature’. God asks, even commands, us to believe.⁹ To believe in the completeness of Jesus’ finished work, believe in His promises, believe that God uses humans to release His miraculous gifts, to recognize the goodness of God and His will toward mankind.

In Hebrews, the writer tells Jewish Christians that though they ought to have grown and matured, they are still spiritual infants. He links this immaturity to faith in the next verse and then goes on to talk about the sureness of God’s promises and how those promises are realized through faith. He encourages us to “imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”¹⁰ The word says that many should be teachers but have not grown and instead, need to learn elementary basics all over again -- these are Christians who never get past learning the alphabet spiritually.¹¹ Jesus spoke about seeds that got choked and never produced a crop; about a tree that produced no fruit after three years needing to be cut down, about fruitless branches connected to His vine that needed to be cut off and thrown in the fire.¹² This is a message to the church, to people who identify as Christians.

How do you grow and produce fruit? Start by recognizing the freebies and thanking God for the many, many good things He has done and given. Ask God to remind you of times in the past and show you things you never recognized as His intervention. Give Him the credit for everything good in your life and stop taking credit for yourself, your smart decisions or hard work. Stop blaming God for the bad and thank Him for what He has done, who He has made His children to be in Jesus, for His incredible promises, for the faith He has already given. And start believing everything He has promised. Those incredible stories are there to build your faith for your next miracle.

“In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

• • • Hebrews 5:1-14• • •

1. Numbers 14:1-38
2. James 1:7
3. Luke 16:10-11; Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-27
4. Matthew 10:8
5. John 17:18, 20:21
6. John 15:8
7. Mark 5:34, 10:52; Luke 7:50, 8:48, 17:19, 18:42; Matthew 9:22;
8. James 1:2-4; Ephesians 4:11-15; Colossians 1:28, 4:12; Hebrews 5:12-14, 6:1-2; Luke 8:11-15
9. John 14:1,11-12; 10:38; Mark 11:22
10. Hebrews 6:1-19
11. Hebrews 5:12
12. John 15:2, 6; Matthew 3:10, 7:19; Luke 13:7; Luke 8:14; Mark 4:7