Faith and Miracles: Monday Manna

The purpose of Monday Manna to get together and get to know Christ more through His Word. Each Thursday, a Bible verse to ponder will be posted, either here or at my dear friend Vonnie's blog, My Back Door. The following Monday, those participating will post their thoughts on the verse at their own blogs and link up at the bottom of the post in the Linky Tools gadget. The main purpose is to chew on the same Scripture and learn from one another.

Today's verse is sure to have some interesting thoughts related to it :).

And he [Jesus] did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. Matthew 13:58

Looking forward to reading your thoughts. Mine are below.

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I'm a firm believer that miracles happen every day. God's work is everywhere. The fact that the sun rises daily, and that the grass under the snow in our front yard will be green again in four months or so is a miracle. That my husband survived four brain surgeries is a miracle. It's miraculous that I haven't hauled off and clobbered my children (trust me - that self-control did NOT come from me!).

Yet other people see these same things and view them as "the power of nature" or random acts of probability. Or even as something they did. Why is that? Because of my faith in God, and my knowledge of him. Maybe my perceptions are wrong. Perhaps I shouldn't see these things as miracles.

This week's verse tells us that, because of their lack of faith, Jesus did not do many miracles there. Does that mean the sun didn't rise every day? Or that rainbows didn't come after the storm? Or that people stopped holding it together when they were under stress?

Now, I'm probably stretching this verse a bit, but sometimes I wonder if the issue was less about miracles occurring and more the people not noticing them. The people, blinded by their lack of faith, saw none of God's work in their lives. If they didn't recognize the Lord in the sunrise or His provision, why would Christ bother to heal the sick or raise the dead?

Faith isn't brought about by miracles. Miracles, instead, are acknowledged because of faith. So Jesus knew he wouldn't convince the faithless by performing miracles. Like the rich man and Lazarus, he saved his miracles for those who would appreciate it, and who would grow closer to Him from seeing them.

Miracles are everywhere. Just because you don't see them, doesn't mean they're not there.

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Thanks for reading! Be sure to link your own post up below, and read others' contributions.





Paving Rough Roads With God's Presence