Thought for Today
1 Chronicles 16:12 Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered
Psalm 78:42 They did not keep in mind his power, or the day when he redeemed them from the foe; 43 when he displayed his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the fields of Zoan.
John 2:9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom
Acts 19:11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,
0n the 5th Saturday of Lent, is it too trite, too obvious to be thinking about miracles? Lent, the lead-in to God’s great miracle of the Empty Tomb, seems to me to be a time to think about miracles. I find no irony or surprise that 2 of the 3 morning devotionals I read this morning are oriented around miracles.
I have stated previously that I believe in miracles. I especially believe in God’s miracles. From Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, the Bible reveals countless miracles. Miracles of creation, miracles of God’s love, miracles of life itself.
Of course, being an engineer by training, I find miracles in some places non-engineers might find surprising. Every time I add numbers together, I am amazed that 2 + 2 always equals 4!! Try to imagine how different our world might be if it did not. Not surprisingly, I cannot imagine it either.
Our world and Creation itself, include numerous examples of the miracles of God’s creation. If Earth did not rotate about an axis, if that axis did not have a tilt to the plane of the ecliptic, life could not thrive. We depend on that rotation and that tilt for our seasons. Without the seasonal changes, crops would not thrive, animals would not thrive . . . and neither could we. Is it a miracle that the sun always ‘rises’ in the eastern sky? Everywhere on Earth, unless you live at one of Earth’s poles, the sun ‘rises’ in the east every morning! This is not true of every planet around every star.
Miracles are not confined to the big-ticket items. Certainly, the parting of the Red Sea for the fleeing Israelites was a miracle. Changing water into wine was a very public, definitive miracle. For me, a large part of the miraculous in Jesus’ first public miracle is the venue Jesus chose, a common, village wedding feast. It might have been even more dramatic to perform that first public miracle in Jerusalem, at the Temple, during a festival. But Jesus chose to honor the ordinary, to revere God’s children.
The Incarnation itself is one of God’s greatest miracles. It is a miraculous demonstration of God’s love for God’s Creation. John 3:16 does not contain the word miracle, but it definitely recognizes its miraculousness. God became human as we ourselves became human. Completely human. Not an emperor, not a king or a high priest; God became the son of a carpenter. In this birth, God became ‘one of us.’ Therefore, God experienced everything we experience . . . except for succumbing to the temptations of sin.
On our liturgical holidays, Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, we celebrate those big-ticket miracles, and properly so. But, each and every day we can celebrate other of God’s miracles. One of those devotionals this morning talked about the miracle of drawing close to God. The author wrote, “It is the miracle of faith that calls us back toward one another and Christ, drawing us close. “Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
During Lent, our ability to be assured of that for which we hope, to be convinced of that which we have not seen is heightened. Our faith is magnified by our participation in this great miracle of the Empty Tomb. But every day of the year, every day of our lives we are surrounded by God’s miracles. We see them in our families of faith; we them throughout Christendom as God’s children love their neighbors through service to those in need. Miracles of food pantries, of those fighting housing insecurity. Miracles of first responders, Miracles of family, of children, of sunrises and sunsets. Soon, miracles of plants emerging from their winter slumber. Bask in the myriad miracles of the God who loved and loves “John 3:16 . . . the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
Stay safe, thank God for miracles, trust God,
Pastor Ray