Miracles (2)

An older gentleman bought his wife her very first cell phone for their 50th wedding anniversary. She was so excited; in fact, she loved the new phone. He explained all the features and how to use it.

The next day, she went shopping. The phone rang and it was her husband.

He said, “Hi honey, how do you like your new phone?”

She replied, “I just love it so much. It’s so small and your voice is clear as can be, but there’s something I don’t understand.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“How’d you know I was at Walmart?”

It’s funny because she was thinking about her home phone hanging on the wall. People would only call her if they knew she was home. Her thinking was wrong.

When we talk about miracles, our thinking can get mixed up. We forget that each and every day is a miracle from God.

The children of Israel walk out of Egypt in faith trusting that God would provide for them. And God DID provide for them in many miraculous ways. In fact, one of the ways was that He send down food from heaven each morning. They would wake up, and go collect the “mana” from the ground.

At first, this was a BIG deal. They thanked God for the miracle. Until, the miracle became a routine. It became normal. Instead of thanking God. They started to complain.

Their thinking got all mixed up.

Listen to what they said:

Numbers 11:5–6 CEV

5 In Egypt we could eat all the fish we wanted, and there were cucumbers, melons, onions, and garlic. 6 But we’re starving out here, and the only food we have is this manna.”

They were remembering back to the good ol’ days of slavery when they had cucumbers! They forgot that God was working a miracle each and every day.

I wonder what miracles we’ve forgotten about in our lives?

God is working miracles. We just need to be reminded of what He’s done and what He’s doing in our lives.

Last week we learned what miracles are:

Events which unmistakably involve an immediate and powerful action of God designed to reveal His character or purposes.

Today we are going to get a little deeper into the subject. I want to start by telling you a story about a 17 year old girl. She was a young lady who lived a very active life all through her growing-up years, enjoying riding horses, hiking, tennis, and swimming.

On July 30, 1967, she dove into the Chesapeake Bay after misjudging the shallowness of the water. She had a fracture between the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae and became a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the shoulders down. This was obviously devastating to her.

During her two years of rehabilitation, according to her autobiography, she experienced anger, depression, suicidal thoughts, and religious doubts.

You might know this woman. Her name is Joni Eareckson Tada. It’s been 56 years since her accident. She’s been prayed for an in-numerable amount of times, but there’s been no miraculous healing. She is a woman FULL of faith.

Here’s a question that might seem dangerous for me to ask: Why hasn’t she been healed?

If God is in the miracle business and we know He’s full of love and compassion. Then why won’t He heal this precious woman?

What happened to Joni reminds us that we don’t have the answers to all the questions we ask. One day we will stand in God’s presence and know all the answers to all the “why” questions in life.

One interesting fact about Joni’s story was the fact that she lived through the event of diving into that water. You see, when she hit the bottom, no one knew something bad had happened. When she didn’t come up immediately they started to get worried. As you might imagine the water was murky. They couldn’t see where she was. Her sister dove down to try to find her. Fortunately, Joni had just died her hair bright blonde the day before. Her sister said that it was the bright hair she saw in the dirty dark water.

In a way, it was a miracle she lived. If you look at the 50+ years of her life after the accident, you’ll find a life full of ministry. She has made a massive impact on the world for Jesus. You might wonder if it weren’t for the accident if she would have made such a big difference in the world for Jesus.

God Knows Best

Remember, our very existence is a miracle. God made you from nothing. He intervened in history to allow you to live! It was His choice for you to be here today.

No one wants to suffer. We don’t want to experience pain. But all of us have experienced suffering and pain. We can’t avoid it, it’s going to happen. As much as we’d love to avoid it, there is more to life than merely avoiding suffering.

In fact, good can come out of difficulties. If we understand that sometimes God allows us through suffering it changes HOW we suffer. It gives it meaning.

Look at the words of Peter, we love to read these:

1 Peter 2:9–10 CEV

9 But you are God’s chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done. The Scriptures say, 10 “Once you were nobody. Now you are God’s people. At one time no one had pity on you. Now God has treated you with kindness.

WOW - We are royalty! We are walking in the light! We have the opportunity to tell the world of God’s great miracle of salvation.

But wait…let’s skip down a few verses:

1 Peter 2:21–24 CEV

21 After all, God chose you to suffer as you follow in the footsteps of Christ, who set an example by suffering for you. 22 Christ did not sin or ever tell a lie. 23 Although he was abused, he never tried to get even. And when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he had faith in God, who judges fairly. 24 Christ carried the burden of our sins. He was nailed to the cross, so that we would stop sinning and start living right. By his cuts and bruises you are healed.

Yikes, I thought God set us free from suffering! Here we are told that we should EXPECT to suffer just as Christ suffered. And you know what? Peter did suffer. He was executed on a cross just like Jesus.

We pray for God to take away our suffering, sickness, and pain. And we should, but what if He doesn’t? Will we still believe?

Viktor Fankl, who endured death camps during WWII wrote something in his famous book Man’s search for meaning, that I wanted to share with you today:

“In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of sacrifice.”

Listen to what else he said:

“Those wo have a “why” to live, can bear with almost any “how.””

You see, we can’t know all of God’s plans. But I can tell you, some of His plans will allow you to go through difficulties. He won’t always answer your prayers for a miracle.

In his book Eric Metaxas makes a statement that I want to share with you today:

“Those who have faith in the God of the Bible can know that even if we don’t get the miracle we are praying for, we can relax and trust that God is nonetheless leading us toward something through whatever we are enduring. If we believe that God can perform outrageous miracles, we should also be able to believe he can do that.”

The point is that, yes we should pray, but above everything else, we should trust that God knows best! You might ask, why should we even pray?

We don’t pray just to get a desired result, but it’s been proved that when we pray, the miraculous CAN happen.

One day, not to long ago, my daughter Katie came up to me on a Saturday morning. I could tell she came locked and loaded with an idea. She asked if we could go to breakfast, hang out at the mall, and maybe go to a movie. I shocked her when I said, YES! Let’s do it!

I wanted her to ask me. Now, some days, I couldn’t grant that request, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want her to ask. Or that I don’t love her.

When we pray, if we only care about the result, then we are effectively making the result our God. We should pray and ask God for His will in our lives!

Some people might argue that we don’t get what we want because we don’t have enough faith. I’ve even heard preachers say a person wasn’t healed because they didn’t have enough faith with they prayed.

I want to spend the rest of our time talking about Lazarus because it’s a great case study in the miraculous.

If someone believe it’s our faith that heals us and forgets that it’s God’s will whether or not He heals us, then we should ask that person about the faith of Lazarus. Remember, he was decomposing in a tomb when he was raised back to life! His faith didn’t matter! It was all God.

It is God and God’s grace that heal, not our prayers or even our faith! We are told we should pray and believe in faith, but those two things aren’t what performs miracles in our lives. It’s God who works miracles. And it’s NOT at our will, but His.

Lazarus had been dead for 4 days before Jesus came to his tomb. Let’s pick it up from when He was standing there about to perform this incredible miracle.

John 11:38–44 CEV

Jesus was still terribly upset. So he went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone rolled against the entrance. Then he told the people to roll the stone away. But Martha said, “Lord, you know that Lazarus has been dead four days, and there will be a bad smell.” Jesus replied, “Didn’t I tell you that if you had faith, you would see the glory of God?” After the stone had been rolled aside, Jesus looked up toward heaven and prayed, “Father, I thank you for answering my prayer. I know that you always answer my prayers. But I said this, so that the people here would believe that you sent me.” When Jesus had finished praying, he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” The man who had been dead came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with strips of burial cloth, and a cloth covered his face. Jesus then told the people, “Untie him and let him go.”

There are few things I want to bring up about this story that might help us understand miracles.

God Uses Miracles to Communicate

John 11:25 CEV

25 Jesus then said, “I am the one who raises the dead to life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die.

Jesus wanted to demonstrate the power of God specifically so that people might see who he really was and that they could believe in Him as the Messiah.

Jesus loved Lazarus, but if He were only interested in keeping his friend safe and healthy, we could have come to him BEFORE he died and healed him in private.

He wanted to communicate to everyone that He was the Saviour of the World and that He had the power and authority over death.

Through this miracle God was glorified. It shows us that we can trust in God.

Can it be that God allows us to go through things specifically so that we can have an opportunity to trust Him more and then see him do something extraordinary that wouldn’t have been possible if He had just answered our prayers they way we wanted them answered?

If this is true, then ANY difficulty we have can become and opportunity to trust the Lord to communicate something to US and to those around us about WHO He is!

God is the Reason for Life

Jesus stood there and commanded Lazarus to come out of the grave. In fact, He shouted!

John 11:43 CEV

43 When Jesus had finished praying, he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!”

This reminds me what miracles really are: God acting alone, without our help!

Lazarus didn’t do anything. He didn’t pray. He didn’t have enough faith. He was dead!

This by definition is exactly what a miracle is: Events which unmistakably involve an immediate and powerful action of God designed to reveal His character or purposes.

It was God’s grace in action!

It’ reminds me of our spiritual condition. Without Jesus we are ALL spiritually dead. We need the resurrection of life that only God can give us. We cannot earn it or give it to ourselves. We can’t help God in bringing us back to life. We are like Lazarus, completely and totally dependent on God!

This miracle teaches us that God is the reason for life.

John 11:25 CEV

25 Jesus then said, “I am the one who raises the dead to life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die.

Jesus performed this miracle for you and I to see that He has the ability to raise US to life if we trust in Him.

Our faith is not what produces a miracle. The nature of Christ is the miracle. We pray as an acknowledgement that He is the life giver.

God can DO anything, but He won’t violate His character or will. That’s the opposite of a miracle.

We shouldn’t pray to force our wants, we should pray for God’s will to be done in all circumstances and then offer praise no matter the outcome because we know in all things God is worthy of our praise.

God is in the miracle business. We SHOULD ask, but whether the answer is YES or NO, we should continue to trust God because we know His will is so much great than our own.

His will is perfect. Even if it means we don’t get what we want.

Joni Eareckson Tada is such a great illustration of trusting in God. During Tada's two years of rehabilitation, according to her autobiography, she experienced anger, depression, suicidal thoughts, and religious doubts. However, during occupational therapy, she learned to paint with a brush between her teeth and began selling her artwork. She also writes this way. To date, she has written over forty books, recorded several musical albums, and starred in an autobiographical movie of her life, and is an advocate for people with disabilities.

The greatest miracle of all to me in her life is that she believed God had a plan for her. She didn’t give up.