Sandy and I are part of a weekly prayer time in Colorado via speaker phones. Last week while praying about a man looking for a job and us trying to sell our house in California so we can move back to Colorado, someone prayed something to the effect of “God, this would be a good time for you to…” The phrase caught on in that anointed way a few words can in a prayer meeting. We repeated that phrase several times during the meeting.
What we were saying is that, in the midst of the economic mess that seems to be going on in the world, this would be a very good time for God to receive glory by intervening in our lives. They were not selfish prayers. They were based on awareness that in the midst of difficult times God’s goodness can really stand out when he comes to the aid of his people. The phrase stuck in my mind and I have pondered for a week whether it is biblical or not.
What did Jesus expect us to learn from the 40+ miracles he did as recorded in the Bible? Can we first agree that there are probably multiple layers of things he wanted us to see? He said that the healings and exorcisms he performed were to destroy the works of the enemy. They account for about 2/3 of the miracles recorded. But what about 10 times he just did sort of random things like walking on water or cursing fig trees? The theologians will remind us that these were done to demonstrate his power over natural elements. Yeah okay, but what did he think I would take away personally from reading about turning water into wine, or finding tax money in a fish’s mouth?
In the e-newsletters I get there seems to be two schools of thought. Both would deny the extremity of the positions I am going to assign them here but their material clearly demonstrates what I am going to postulate. One school of thought seems to be based solely on the idea of sowing and reaping. It teaches that whatever circumstance you find yourself in it is your own fault. All actions lead to consequences and if you don’t like the consequences you are experiencing you should just change your actions. The other position encourages people that if they pray and believe, everything will turn out fine. I guess if that is not working out you must not be praying correctly or enough. There is never any mention of altering lifestyles, i.e., obedience. While I agree with both of these positions, I find them deficient. How do we concoct a mix of both?
First we have to define a miracle. In college I read C.S. Lewis’ book entitled Miracles. It was one of those books that required I read every paragraph three times to make sure I understood what he meant but the bottom line went something like this: a miracle can be defined as any time God intersects our earthly reality with his kingdom reality. Examples: a healing, a dead person coming back to life, a fig tree dying, or water turning into wine.
Think about that last one – turning water into wine. Sure he demonstrated his power over stuff. But is that all it was? Maybe he was responding to his mom. Maybe he wanted to spare his friends some embarrassment. But the Son of God chose the rather mundane circumstances of a wine shortage at a wedding reception to demonstrate his first miracle. What am I supposed to get from that?
How about that I don’t have to always pull myself up by my own boot straps? Oh, I believe in the child-like intimate obedience that doesn’t worry about tomorrow but lives in the present. But I also get very clearly that I cannot pull myself up by my own efforts as high as I want to go in either this life or the next. I need some occasional tax money in a fish’s mouth. I need a storm calmed once in a while. I need a few extra fish in my net from time to time. I need a little Kingdom of God intervention over this world’s system failure on a pretty regular basis.
The 5,000+ could have walked back to town and gotten something to eat. All Jesus had to do was take the apostles advice and end the meeting early enough. But he chose to feed them instead. Are you feeling a bit hungry for some Kingdom intervention? Come to think of it,
God this would be a good time for you to…