Do You Believe The Almighty Performs Miracles?

 I could've asked if you believe in miracles at all. But I decided to bring God into the equation. He is the issue, not nature.  If you say that you do not  believe the sun stood still for Gideon or that Moses parted the Red Sea or that God provided manna in the Wilderness for Israel, or that Jesus calmed the storm and walked on water or particularly healed the sick, those are other questions. The whole point is miracles per se.  Are they defined by the laws of nature? Are they violations of the laws of nature? Who can perform miracles then? How common are they? What are they defined as? 

First things first: miracles are supernatural or unusual events that happen contrary to the natural order of things and are not producible by what is naturally occurring and present at the time and place of the event. It is not a miracle that you found that parking spot at the shopping mall, or some Hail Mary pass won the game, though you may feel that way. Therefore, miracles must be supernatural, but all supernatural events are not miracles; we see the supernatural every day if we look for it.  

No supernatural powers were needed for some events for that and no laws of nature suspended, it was just timing!   Sometimes, it's just seems coincidental that makes it a miracle.  We should not use the term loosely to include spectacular or unusual events that require no act of intervention by God.  As far as the laws of nature go, the law of gravity says that if an apple falls from the tree and you catch it, you have suspended the natural order of things that it should hit the ground.  Don't you realize that the Almighty God who is the Lawgiver of the laws of nature has every right to suspend his own rules? 

Science cannot forbid miracles then. It merely describes what happens according to what normally and customarily occurs. Science depends upon the uniformity of the laws of nature and if miracles happened all the time they'd be called "regulars" and science would be impossible!   David Hume described miracles as violations of the laws of nature as if nature itself is sovereign and controls events, not God. What he is doing is personifying and deifying nature, not God. What I'm saying is that the belief in miracles is necessitated if one believes in God Almighty.

If you believe in a Creator, for example, it is no leap to believe God can do the lesser miracles of the Bible narratives. Secular Humanists deny any supernaturalism and will not let a Divine Foot in the door but adhere strictly to materialism or that only matter/energy exists and there is no spirit and in particular no soul of man to be "saved." To believe in miracles is a profession of faith then. It is the logical conclusion when one believes in God Almighty.  You cannot profess faith in God and deny His miracles or take them out of the Bible narratives. 

Of the views on miracles: that they do not occur; that they only happened in the biblical times; and that they still occur even today, or that they happen by other forces, all depend upon one's belief in the God of the Bible and how to interpret it. They occurred for certain reasons in the Bible at three basic times: Moses and Joshua; Elijah and Elisha, Jesus, and the early church period. If you remove miracles from other religions, they remain intact, but if you remove the miraculous from the Bible, it is disemboweled and neutralized and of not consequence.  

They were performed for basic reasons too: to give authority and credentials to the prophet, priest, or apostle;  to be a sign from God; to intervene in human affairs; and for merciful reasons to show pity.  The basic reason is that miracles are supernatural or even unusual events caused by God directly to bring glory to God and to attest to God (Heb. 2:3-4) .  We must realize that faith doesn't come from miracles, but miracles from faith! 

Jesus did perform miracles and they were well-known in His time and not denied; the skeptics just attributed them to Satan!  He never did a biggie or showy miracle though to force belief by some "smoking gun" evidence. He never did them on demand.  They were not for show!  Jesus did not want to be known merely as a miracle worker but if you remove the miracles, His story has little credence, and if He had never performed them, He would've been but a footnote in history, even forgotten. 

In sum, God performed miracles for His people and they did not believe, except the remnant: Psalm  78:32; John 12:37 say that although God performed multiple miracles, they would not believe and kept sinning (note that it doesn't say "could not") but became hardened and stubborn in their hearts. Soli Deo Gloria!

God Works In Mysterious Ways!

"God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will." (Heb. 2:4, NIV).
"Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth?" (Job 38:33, NLT).
"So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands" (Psalm 78:7, NLT).
"For you are great and perform wonderful deeds. You alone are God" (Psa. 86:10, NLT).
"Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me" (John 10:25, KJV).
"If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not" (John 10:37, KJV).

NOTE: IT IS SAID THAT WHEN THINGS GO BAD, BELIEVERS SAY, "GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS," AND WHEN THINGS GO GOOD, GOD IS BLESSING THEM. MAN GIVES HIMSELF GLORY FOR HIS SUCCESS BUT BLAMES GOD FOR HIS FAILURES (CF. PROV. 19:3).

"God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform," according to William Cowper's hymn (cf. Isa. 45:15, NLT). Even in the days of Job's trials, he says, "He does great things too marvelous to understand. He performs countless miracles." (9:10, NLT). Note he said "countless miracles." Was Job naive or did he actually witness miracles? Even in the days of Moses, the magicians recognized the "finger of God" at work. The people of the Bible cannot be portrayed as naive, credulous, ignorant, or superstitious. They knew when God was performing a miracle because they were observers of nature and recognized God at work. For instance, when the blind man was healed, they said no one had ever healed a man born blind!

If God's miracles were everyday events, we'd call them "regulars." All events are caused by God, the Causa Prima or primary mover of all creation--He is the so-called First Cause, and the existence of motion itself proves there is a God, because one has to wonder when did the first act of motion happen, since the law of inertia says that a body at rest tends to stay at rest---it doesn't happen by itself but must be set in motion!

Jesus didn't want to be known primarily as a miracle or wonder-worker but came to be our Savior. His miracles were but signs to illustrate a teaching point about His Deity or out of compassion, not for show or personal gain, prestige, or money. He never did a biggie miracle to convince the unwilling, nor miracles on-demand or special request. That's because miracles only produce the desire for more miracles and miracles don't produce faith, faith produces miracles! Proof of this is when Jesus said in John 12:37, NIV, that "Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him." Note they "would not" not "could not!" The psalmist Asaph said in Psalm 78:32, NIV, that: "In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe."

And so God causes everything (we are the secondary agents) and miracles are but unusual events caused by God. Have you ever wondered how an immaterial thing such as a thought can affect material things such as a muscle? What causes our motion? If you want to see a miracle, look in the mirror or behold a sunset! Scientists will tell you that miracles are against the laws of nature, but if there are laws, there must be a Lawmaker who can override His own law! By definition, God is not bound by His own laws of nature! Science then cannot forbid miracles, for God is not tangible, visible, or audible and you cannot repeat, measure, observe, or put Him in a test tube or have laboratory conditions to study--He's outside the province of scientific endeavor.        

Truly, O God of Israel, Our Savior, you work in mysterious ways" (Isaiah 45:15, NLT).

"Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? (Job 4:7, KJV--Eliphaz to Job).

God brings good times as well as bad times (cf. Isaiah 45:7, NLT). "I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things." (Isaiah 45:7, ESV). God "doesn't willingly grieve or afflict the children of men" (cf. Lam. 3:33, ESV). Job questioned God's justice after his suffering and God never explained Himself to him, but only humbled him by revealing Himself to bring him to repentance. Jesus was asked if a disaster that happened was because the victims were eviler than others, but Jesus admonished them to repent lest they likewise perish. Just because someone is suffering we are not to conclude that he is being punished by God.

Job was written to partly answer why the godly suffer, but there is no complete answer to this dilemma and we are left with the challenge to trust God for who He is and His providence working for the overall good in the end (cf. Rom. 8:28). They ask why does evil happen to good people? There are no good people! The question might as well be re-phrased, "Why does good happen to evil people?" Because Jesus said that only God is good! God is the source of all good (cf. James 1:17) and evil is just the perversion, waste, and shortchanging of good, or evil under the guise of good--humanism is merely goodness without God in the equation. Yes, one might well echo the words of the famed hymn by William Cowper: "God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform."

Job was told by Zophar in Job 11:7, ESV, "'Can you find out the deep thing of God?...'" As the Latin phrase goes: "finitum non capax Infinitum." This means the finite cannot grasp or contain the infinite! The KJV asks if we canst "by searching find out God." The answer is an emphatic "No." Caveat: God is too wise to make a mistake, too kind to be cruel, and too deep to explain Himself, a sage has observed. God doesn't owe us an explanation and isn't accountable to us; contrariwise, we owe Him an explanation and are accountable to Him! We must not be armchair quarterbacks and second-guess God! We must expect trouble in this life: "Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble" (Job 14:1, ESV). "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all" (Psalm 34:19, ESV).

We must be encouraged to continue in the faith and to bear our cross, which pales in comparison with Christ's passion, for "through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" (cf. Acts 14:22, ESV). Remember that trials, tribulations, temptations, sufferings, tests, and adversities must inevitably come; however, Christ will be with us as we pass through the waters and the fire (cf. Isaiah 42:2). "[W]e rejoice in our sufferings," according to Romans 5:3, ESV. Remember, Christ didn't exempt Himself from any type of suffering but suffered in all similar manners and yet without sin (cf. Heb. 4:15). Christ isn't asking us to do anything He didn't do Himself!

We must not ever judge victims as being somewhat less worthy, holy, or righteous than us and believe they deserve what befalls them, as if they were suffering karma or the natural consequences of evil as Job's comforters assumed of him: "As I have seen, those who plow trouble and sow iniquity reap the same" (Job 4:8, ESV). They told him that no one innocent ever perished! Their presupposition was that the only reason trouble comes is because one is not right with God; God blesses the good and punishes the evil. Their calculus was an oversimplification, for they had not reckoned God's goodness into the equation and His profundity, that we cannot figure God out or put Him into a box.

One reason evil exists is that we see good in its contrast. God works evil into good and turns the wrath of man into His glory (cf. Psalm 76:10). Why does He work with evil? Because there's so much of it to work with! God can take the most diabolical events and turn them into good results, and we must not break faith in God that He knows best and what He is doing. Look at what Joseph said, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good" (cf. Gen. 50:20). Acts 2:23, ESV, says that Jesus was "delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God." Someday Jesus will answer all our questions and we will know even as we are known (cf. John 16:23, ESV, "In that day you will ask nothing of me...."). Soli Deo Gloria!

God Works In Mysterious Ways

"God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will." (Heb. 2:4, NIV).
"Do you know the laws of the universe?   Can you use them to regulate the earth?" (Job 38:33, NLT).
"So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands"  (Psalm 78:7, NLT).  
"For you are great and perform wonderful deeds.  You alone are God" (Psa. 86:10, NLT).
"Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not:  the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me"  (John 10:25, KJV). 
"If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not" (John 10:37, KJV).  

NOTE:  IT IS SAID THAT WHEN THINGS GO BAD, BELIEVERS SAY, "GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS," AND WHEN THINGS GO GOOD, GOD IS BLESSING THEM.  MAN GIVES HIMSELF GLORY FOR HIS SUCCESS BUT BLAMES GOD FOR HIS FAILURES (CF. PROV. 19:3).

"God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform," according to William Cowper's hymn (cf. Isa. 45:15, NLT).  Even in the days of Job's trials, he says, "He does great things too marvelous to understand.  He performs countless miracles."  (9:10, NLT).  Note he said "countless miracles."  Was Job naive or did he actually witness miracles?  Even in the days of Moses, the magicians recognized the "finger of God" at work.  The people of the Bible cannot be portrayed as naive, credulous, ignorant, or superstitious.  They knew when God was performing a miracle because they were observers of nature and recognized God at work.  For instance, when the blind man was healed, they said no one had ever healed a man born blind!

If God's miracles were everyday events, we'd call them "regulars." All events are caused by God, the Causa Prima or primary mover of all creation--He is the so-called First Cause, and  the existence of motion itself proves there is a God, because one has to wonder when did the first act of motion happen, since the law of inertia says that a body at rest tends to stay at rest---it doesn't happen by itself but must be set in motion! 

Jesus didn't want to be known primarily as a miracle or wonder-worker but came to be our Savior.  His miracles were but signs to illustrate a teaching point about His Deity or out of compassion, not for show or personal gain, prestige, or money. He never did a biggie miracle to convince the unwilling, nor miracles on-demand or special request.  That's because miracles only produce the desire for more miracles and miracles don't produce faith, faith produces miracles!  Proof of this is when Jesus said in John 12:37, NIV,  that "Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him." Note they "would not" not "could not!"  The psalmist Asaph said in Psalm 78:32, NIV, that: "In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe."

And so God causes everything (we are the secondary agents) and miracles are but unusual events caused by God.  Have you ever wondered how an immaterial thing such as a thought can affect material things such as a muscle?  What causes our motion?  If you want to see a miracle, look in the mirror or behold a sunset! Scientists will tell you that miracles are against the laws of nature, but if there are laws, there must be a Lawmaker who can override His own law!  By definition, God is not bound by His own laws of nature!  Science then cannot forbid miracles, for God is not tangible, visible, or audible and you cannot repeat, measure, observe, or put Him in a test tube or have laboratory conditions to study--He's outside the province of scientific endeavor.      Soli Deo Gloria!