“We want to watch you move in miracles as you did then here right now.”
- Cross Point Church, “Right Now”
In an episode of How I Met Your Mother, a few of the characters recount their stories of “miracles” to convince one of the others that miracles are real. One of their miracles was a pencil falling and bouncing up into someone’s nose. Even though what they called “miracles” may not have truly been, it does speak to our need and hope for miracles.
Stories about miracles (especially true ones) are always popular. People love a story about one, because deep down we need that hope for our own lives, our world, and our future.
Miracles speak to the impossible and God is the master of making the impossible happen.
I haven’t had some big miracle happen in my life, but little ones that attest to God’s presence. Near misses, leaps of faith that have worked out when people thought I was crazy to try, random things that speak to my heart. I have quit jobs with no prospects on the horizon (a few times actually) and found out later it was the best time to have left. I’ve been in tight financial spots that worked out for absolutely no mathematical reason. God is in those moments for me. They speak to me as a reminder that He is there, not just watching, but actively with me.
The feeding of the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish is a great story of a miracle. Jesus didn’t send the people away to get their own food. He provided what they needed when they needed it. And He did it with less than anyone could imagine. This story tells us that God is not passive and He provides for us. And many times in ways we couldn’t imagine because He can do it with resources we don’t even think of.
And I get that sometimes it doesn’t feel that He is providing what we need (and particularly what we want), but this is where faith digs in. We have to remember He knows our beginning, middle and end. He will provide what He knows we need to get where we are going. It hurts sometimes. I thought I needed a husband to have the life God planned for me. That hasn’t been the case. There must be something I meant to do, experience, be on my own. Do I know what that is? Nope! But the phrase “hindsight is 20/20” isn’t around just because.
I heard a story at a women’s gathering at church once. And the speaker described this beautiful tapestry. One that God looks at as a whole. But we are looking up from underneath where the knots and starts and ends are. It looks like a big mess and we don’t see the connections. I look forward to the day where God shares that tapestry picture with me so that I can see the beauty of my life in a way that I can’t here.
“I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?”
Jeremiah 32:27
Nothing is too hard for God to do. For us miracles are overwhelming and momentous. Because we view them through the lens of our limitations. And as God reminds us in this verse, He doesn’t have those same limitations. Our starts and stops, our struggles and hardships are the loose threads and knots we see underneath the tapestry. But God is weaving a beautiful picture with our lives. So those jumps forward, unexpected windfalls are the work of His hand. And His works are our miracles.
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
- Albert Einstein
Questions/Challenges:
- List miracles you have seen in your life.
- What is a miracle you would want for someone?
- What do you think your piece of the tapestry looks like on the finished side?
Comments