"...all I need is a miracle..."

We've been looking at Acts 3 this past week, and studying a story of Peter and John with a beggar at the temple. It's a dramatic scene: a man who's been begging for years sees these two men at the gate walking in and asks them for money. Peter and John both look at him immediately, and they move toward the man. The man is expectant since probably every time before, this meant that some coins were going to be dropped to him. But Peter has the man look him in the eye and says, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." Peter takes him firmly by the hand and brings him up.

I can only imagine what that beggar was thinking at that moment. Probably something like, "Hey, idiot, what are you doing? I can't wa...whoa. Wait a second. Um, guys... I guarantee you this wasn't happening 5 minutes ago." Because at that moment, where seconds ago he was a cripple lying on the ground, God made him able to walk again. That's what makes miracles so powerful. One miracle can immediately alter the course of things. This man's healing certainly did.

It got me thinking today about miracles and healing. I wondered why it was that there doesn't seem to be that miraculous gift given to many people today. Don't get me wrong, I do believe miracles exist and healing occurs everyday, but not in the evangelistic way it used to, I suppose. Can you imagine if Christians had that gift today? I have seen men and women who have disabilities and deformities, and I would be so glad if I could walk up to them and say, "By the name of God, you are healed." But I can't. Maybe my prayers have helped a friend in the past, but God did not give me the gift of performing signs and wonders to those I come into contact with.

So why does it seem like there are less miracles and healings?

Well I think the biggest reason is our growth in knowledge and power as humans. More and more of what we do is relegated to the marvel of modern medicine. If a girl's pnuemonia goes away overnight, it is easy to say that this medicine or this treatment caused it and we should all be thankful. If a baby born 3 months premature survives, it's easy to say that our advancements have made it possible. And to some extent, I think that's true. But it also masks that no matter what, God is always working. No matter what the circumstance.

It's so easy to explain God away in our world. At the end of the day, no one can prove the "big bang theory", yet so many of our smartest and brightest have no problem taking that scientific leap, as long as God gets no credit. Don't get me wrong, I have a very mixed opinion of creationism vs. evolution and all that good stuff, but that's for a different time. But that's just one example of how easy it is to discredit God.

The second reason I think maybe they don't exist the way they do is the time and place they were occurring. It seems that whenever God created the miraculous and brought so many back to Him was at times when the world needed it the most. God parted seas, stopped the rain, gave a king fifteen more years of life, and helped a small kid beat a mighty warrior all because the people He loved were in dire need. When Jesus came to Judea, the people were losing hope. They were under the rule of now their 4th oppressor in the past 600 years, and no sign of reprieve was anywhere. Jesus came to Israel at their darkest hour and gave them light. I believe that he didn't heal people completely to make them better, but to tell the people, "Hey, did you know that even now, God is here WITH YOU?" As more and more people came to know the Way, the miracles seemed to move further into the background.

It seems like our world is nearing that place again. Our peers, friends and family fall into despair faster than we can reach them, and many feel like there is no hope and nowhere to turn. Perhaps, a time of God revealing his power again in these ways will come soon. But I guess that is not for us to know.

The last reason might simply be that we are not the people meant to be an instrument in such ways for God's will. God still heals and performs miracles, but does it in His own timing. It's so hard for us to understand that, because we want people to be better. If you think I wouldn't have loved to look at my grandpa whom I loved so dearly and tell him, "In the name of Jesus, your cancer is gone", you're misguided. But what do I ignore if I do that? He lost his only love to illness a year earlier, he was ready to finish the race. He touched an entire town with his kindness, and no one would ever be his equal. He was done. What would healing him have done? I always assume I know what God should do more than He does, and every time I get it after just a little bit of thought and prayer.

God is mysterious, but only because He can see so far down the road, that He has the map all sorted out. We are only able to look right in front of us, and as such we cannot see what His will is all the time. Maybe that's why we don't perform miracles like we used to do. Maybe God has His own timing and maybe the little things we do for each other are the miracles themselves.

I don't know, I haven't really studied enough to have a definitive answer. All I know is no matter how much I learn, it always comes back to faith. Do I have enough faith in God to believe that even if a miracle doesn't happen and a prayer doesn't go my way, that His will is so perfect that I know it will be for good at the end? That's my own challenge. To still love God's will even if it contradicts my own, and leaves me broken for a time.