Written By Ben Dankaka
Meditation – Luke 9:11
Miracles were a vital part of Jesus’ ministry. As He preached the gospel, He every so often performed miracles. When He left and the Holy Spirit came, His disciples continued His work of performing miracles as they preached the good news. Up until this moment, Christians have been experiencing miracles in their lives. Unfortunately, in today’s Christianity, the desire for miracles has gotten to a point where many Christians only know God as a miracle worker.
For that reason, we expect extraordinary events every day in our lives. And when things don’t turn out well, as they sometimes do, we think our God has abandoned us or feel our Church or Pastor isn’t good enough. Because of our desire for miracles, we now expect God to do everything for us, including those things we can do for ourselves. In our quest for miracles, we transfer our responsibilities to God and then, become irresponsible in the process. While we need miracles in our lives, it is important for us to know that God doesn’t always manifests His glory through miracles. Miracles happened, only when it is required.
When you read the gospels carefully, you will realize that most of the miracles Jesus performed were caused by an urgent need. For instance,the first miracle – turning of water into wine was done to solve an urgent problem. Also, Christ often performed miracles because of sympathy. Whenever Jesus became sympathetic, know that He was going to perform a miracle. Equally, the miracles that God performed while He was taking the people of Israel out of Egypt often were as a result of an urgent need. When they were unprepared to fight an army, God divided the red sea; when they were thirsty and there was no stream, God brought water out of rock; when they were hungry, and there was no food, He dropped manna from Heaven.
But by the time they settled in the Promised Land, fewer miracles were experienced because the people were able to take care of themselves. Know this; God often does miracles whenever He sees us in a difficult situation that is beyond our control or power. Whatever you can overcome, God will let you handle it because He created you to have control and He knows the power He has placed inside of you. So when you don’t get that expected miracle, it is God’s way of telling you to face that problem and conquer it by yourself.
Prayer: Lord, open my eyes, so I can see those things I can control. Amen.
REFERENCES/FURTHER STUDY: Luke 9:11; John 2:1-11
Unless otherwise stated all scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version.