When miracles don’t happen

Those who follow Jesus are those who truly believe in miracles. The incarnation was a miracle as was the resurrection. And then there were all the miracles done by Jesus and to a lesser extent the early apostles. Many will testify to the ongoing occurrence of miracles. Given the truth of our text today, it is not surprising we still encounter miracles. After all, God hasn’t changed.

And yet, we have to come to grips with the fact that miracles are not commonplace. Nor should they be: by definition they are interruptions to the norm not the norm themselves. Constant miracles would cease to be miracles! More seriously, we have to recognise this miracle-working God chooses not to send miracles when we might welcome them.

The God who made the world can very easily shrink the child’s brain tumour, arrange the movement of cars so the fatal head-on accident is avoided, change a stubborn human heart and so renew a broken relationship. And sometimes he does do these very things. Our problem is that sometimes he doesn’t.

A God who always did miracles on demand would satisfy our personal needs. A God who never did miracles would at least not raise hopes in us. As it is, we have to relate to a God who sometimes steps in and sometimes seems to stay apart. As it is, we have to trust that God is good and powerful even though his goodness and power are experienced partially in a broken world. We thankfully recognise that our very existence and the promise of eternal life is miracle enough to keep us going.

Blessings
David Reay