Little Miracles

So, why are God's miracles so seldom of the "oh wow there's no way THAT could have happened other than a miracle!" variety?

I mean, I know that it's a miracle that I found my contact lens right in the center of a 12-inch square area I had just searched with my face two inches from it after I prayed, looked away, and then looked back. I had looked there. The thing is blue. Even a guy with only one contact in can't miss a blue circle two inches from the end of his nose, if he's desperately looking for it.

Recently I was looking at a Web site that postulates that because there are no thoroughly-documented cases of amputated limbs growing back after prayer, it is proven that God does not exist. That's just preposterous. Even before that, I was reading a book about prayer that talked about just such a thing... certain ailments seemingly not ever healed via prayer. The author of the book doesn't seem to have a satisfactory answer to the question of why not? I've heard that many more miracles from the "spectacular" side of the fence happen in non-Western countries... you hear about miraculous healings from missionaries and such. Some have theorized that it happens that way because faith is stronger in those places than in the West. Others have guessed that God heals them because adequate medical care is not available there; it is available here so God uses doctors to do the work. (Question: why would God force His people to get expensive, time-consuming medical procedures when God could solve the problem immediately, and for free?)

I've also heard it said that miracles sometimes don't happen because people don't have "enough faith" or the right kind of faith or whatever. Blaming it on the sick person, which seems a bit off to me as well.

I once read a book called When Heaven Invades Earth: A practical guide to a life of miracles by Bill Johnson. Pastor Johnson basically says that we don't see more miracles because (1) we don't expect them, and (2) we don't take the opportunity to do things that would create a situation where a miracle could occur (for instance, we don't pray for the sick, so they don't get healed).

So what's the answer? Man, if I knew, I would write a book and it would outsell Pastor Johnson's. I do think he is on to something; I do believe in miracles and I believe that God wants them to happen in the world every day, because signs are what leads the sinner to Christ. There must be a human element to it, too, although I also believe God can (and sometimes does) do whatever He wants to. I may not ever manage to understand God's workings in our world, but I can trust Him and know that His wisdom is much greater than my understanding could ever be!

Morningstar

Like a lot of the Christian world, my wife and I have been checking out the broadcasts of the Lakeland revival meetings with great interest. Actually, just this week we started checking out the broadcasts for the first time... they've been going on for I think nearly 2 months now. At first I was cautiously skeptical, but I definitely do believe that God is moving in that big old tent!

A week or two ago our friend Shelley sent us some links to a series of articles about a corresponding meeting that is happening in South Carolina. I think they are fascinating! They have a lot to say about the history of revival, how to maintain and sustain it, and how to not let it roll over your church afterward. Here are direct links to all of the parts so far:

The History and Future of the Present Revival
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9

(By the way... Shelley is in that tent in Florida as I write this! Those of us who know her laid hands on her before she went... she and the other two ladies with her are our point of contact. We are expecting God to be able to use them to bring the revival back with them when they return!)

A Sign

Back in this post I introduced something I've been thinking about for some time now... whether it is "correct" to believe God because of "signs" or not. Should miraculous occurrences form an essential number of the threads that make up the cloth which is my faith? Jesus often seemed to make statements to the contrary:

Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation. -Mark 8:11-13

It seems like the temple authorities were fixated on demanding a sign from Jesus, but then He kept performing miracles and they still wouldn't believe in Him (see John 12:37-41 for an example and explanation from the Old Tesatment). However, verse 42 makes it clear that some of the temple authorities believed, and the regular people clearly had no trouble believing in Him because of the miracles. Jesus sometimes seemed annoyed with the idea that people would not believe in Him without miracles (notice verse 48), but in this passage we find Jesus saying:

If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. -John 10:37-38

It seems to me that we all, almost without exception, require some sort of sign in order to truly believe. Most people seem to at least have an emotional experience at the time when they accept Jesus as their Savior. I realize this is an internal "sign," but it is a sign nonetheless. And if Jesus performed miracles then, in part in order to demonstrate His Divinity, then what is to make us think that God would do less today? God never changes, and Jesus also said His Church would do "greater works" than the ones He did. (I won't even begin to speculate on what He meant by "greater works" in this post!) I just have to conclude that God does indeed intend for His children to allow Him to prove Himself today through miracles.

Dichotomies

Lately I've been thinking about two dichotomies.

NUMBER ONE
In Sunday School we've been reading and discussing a book called When Heaven Invades Earth. One of the main ideas of the book is that the supernatural move of God in miracles is absolutely essential for a complete Christian life. I've also been studying the Gospels, particularly John and Matthew, and it seems like a major theme in Jesus' earthly ministry was manifesting miraculous "signs" so that people would know He was the Son of God. But then at the very end of the book of John, Jesus turns around 180 degrees and says "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." So: if signs are necessary for belief, how can the ones that believe without seeing be more blessed than those that believe after seeing? Is faith based on experiencing the supernatural inferior to faith that arrives some other way? And, what else do we have that can generate faith other than experience (if not physical experience, then emotional experiences or at least intellectual stimulation)?

NUMBER TWO
If a healthy tree bears good fruit and cannot bear bad fruit, and if a fig tree can't bear olives/a grapevine can't produce figs/a salt pond can't yield fresh water, how is it that Christians are perfectly able to sin (and most of us do on a daily basis)?

I'm sure these two topics are being hotly debated in a seminary classroom as we speak. Please discuss and elucidate.

See?

This morning I was listening to Max McLean reading John Chapter 1 ESV, and something struck me from the final few verses:

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these." And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

-John 1:47-51 ESV, emphasis mine

As I listened to the passage, it occurred to me that Jesus, who was operating in His capacity as Man, had received a vision of Nathanael by the Holy Spirit, Who had descended on Him at His baptism earlier in the chapter. Then Jesus told Nathanael that he would "see greater things than these." It's interesting how Jesus' statement is broken up at the beginning of verse 51, "And he said to him..." as though Jesus were making a separate statement. I always assumed that Jesus meant that the "greater things" were the same thing as "heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man," but to me the way the sentences are written leaves that open to another interpretation.

This chapter, in my ESV, contains the word "see," "seen," or "saw" fifteen times, beginning with the idea in verses 14-18 that although no one has seen the Father, we have seen Jesus and thus have seen God's glory. Then we find out what John saw, what Jesus' soon-to-be disciples saw, then what Jesus saw. And when Jesus saw something, He immediately said that Nathanael would one day "see" greater things. It's almost like the point of Chapter 1 is to emphasize that God purposefully reveals things to people. Maybe Jesus was speaking of the day when His disciples would also be filled with the Holy Spirit and would be able to see prophetic visions like Jesus did (see Acts 2:17 and Joel 2:28). "Do you believe I am the Messiah because of a little vision? Even YOU will see visions one day!" Jesus seems to be saying. Receiving prophetic visions, apparently, is not a valid sign that you are the Son of God!

So what is the significance of verse 51? I looked it up in Matthew Henry, and his explanation is that Jesus meant that Nathanael would see more valid indicators that Jesus was the Messiah, which also makes plausible sense in context. I think there is a little mystery left there, a little bit of ambiguity. Maybe Jesus meant a little of both... that Nathanael would see valid indicators of His Messiahship, and also that Nathanael would one day see and understand things by the Holy Spirit. After all, Peter did, even before the Holy Spirit was given.