Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have
for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not
to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
We
all face times of desperate need. All of us at one time or another in our lives
“need” a miracle. It might be saving our job/business depends on closing a
business deal. It might be that we have a loved one with a medical emergency.
But at some point we recognize that we can’t do it alone and “need” intervention.
Most of us look for a “parting-the-Red Sea” type of miracle. We’re looking for
that big, immediate, in-your-face solution to our problem. I know some of us
can point to big “parting-the-Red Sea” miracles and I believe they exist, but
for the most part I think if we critically looked at even those they would
follow this process. It is just that we obeyed so naturally that we don’t see
our involvement. What is the real pragmatic expectation to answered prayer?
There are six points I’d like to make:
- God knew the need before we asked for help
- God could have solved the problem immediately without the help of other
- God expects us to do what we can, he expects obedience
- God uses resource that we have
- God does what we can’t
- Here is the hard part, the final solution always takes longer then we want, requires obedience even when we don’t understand the required task and is more painful than we would like.
I
have listed five Biblical miracles at the end to use as examples. They are just
five of many, but they demonstrate the principles well. They all share the six
points above.
God knew the need
before we asked for help
We are not going
to surprise God with our need. Psalms
139:4 “Even before the words are on
my tongue, you know it all together.” We are not bringing Him a perplexing
problem that He needs to contemplate. Our problems are unique and immediate to
us. Because we do not see the future, our need is for a quick solution. When we
don’t get it we believe either God doesn’t know, doesn’t care or can’t help.
The timing is a well thought out decision by God based on his plans for us.
God could have solved
the problem immediately without the help of others
In
Genesis 1 we learned that God created the heavens and the earth. There is
nothing He cannot do without our intervention. Genesis 22:18 says
"And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be
blessed—all because you have obeyed me." He wants to bless us by getting
us involved. The first part of the blessing is that He wants us to work together.
He wants a relationship with us. He wants us to trust and obey. He could have
simply made the five thousand full. Or made the bridal party happy with what
they had, or wiped out the debt of the widow. He wants us to experience the joy
of working with him.
God expects us to do
what we can, he expects obedience
You
can’t steer a stationary ship, it requires movement. Obedience is movement.
Many times we pray for a solution and wait for the answer. God will send us
“nudges” as a call to action. He will not always show us an immediate result
when we obey. The size of the blessing can be determined by our actions. In
both the Water to Wine miracle and the Widow’s Olive Jar miracle, the size of
the blessing was determined by the number of vessels the people gathered. Peter
could have never walked on water if he hadn’t first gotten out of the boat. The
cripple went to great effort to have his friends carry him to Jesus, lift him
to the roof and dig a hole into which they could lower him. The first step is
obedience. Obedience requires movement.
God uses resource
that we have
This
is the first miracle, we have everything we need. Generally we expect that the
solution of the problem centers on the fact that we can’t get what we need,
which presupposes that we don’t already have it. The cripple had friends that
were willing to help. The widow had olive oil, the wedding guests had water
jugs, and the 5,000 had five fish. It seldom seems like we have enough, so we
overlook what we have. Whether it is money, friends, intelligence, energy, or
experience, we have resources that God will use. We need to take the time to
understand the resources available to us and we need to be willing to apply
them even when they seem lacking.
God does what we
can’t
He
is where the magic happens. As the servants ladled out the water it turned to
wine. As the widow poured out olive oil from her jar it kept filling jars until
she was out of jars. As the five thousand took pieces of fish and bread, there
kept being more fish and bread. The cripple picked up his mat and walked. You
don’t really think Peter could walk on water without God’s help. This is the
part of the miracle we see and expect. The blessing is a result of our
obedience; we kind of forget that part.
The Hard Part
The
final solution always takes longer then we want, requires obedience even when
we don’t understand the required task and is more painful than we would like.
Sorry I wish I could say more, but this is it. We have expectations that if we
do what God wants, he will do what we want. Sorry, it’s not a trade. He knows
so much more than we do. He knows what we want and need. He can see the future
implications to all actions. We have a vision of our future based on limited
knowledge. He has perfect knowledge.
“For I know the plans I have for you,”
declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope
and a future.”
Test this
theory by reading about these five miracles in the bible:
- Walking on Water (Mathew 14: 22 – 33)
- Water to Wine (John 2: 1 – 11)
- Widow trying to save her children from indenture (2 Kings 4:1 – 7)
- Feeding the five thousand (Matthew 14: 13 – 21)
- Cripple who is passed through the roof (Luke 5: 17 – 21) “get your hands dirty digging through the roof kind of faith”
