Jesus Understands...

Jesus Understands… Miracles

When you reflect on your life can you recall any miracles? I know I certainly can. I remember when I was in graduate school, I went out for dinner with a young man who attempted to open the car door for me to get in. It was February and the snow bank on the street had already started to pile up so when he opened the passenger door it would not open enough for me to get in. Being a skinny student at the time, I leaned down to try to squeeze in, but then realized I couldn’t, so I stood up and there was a very loud crash and the car door was instantly thrust out of my friend’s hand. A car had just fully rear ended my friend’s car, hitting it so hard that it flew forward and hit the car parked in front of ours. This all happened in a split second and once we realized what took place we went to the driver of the car. Thankfully he was alive, but he had seriously injured his face on the steering wheel. We called the police and the ambulance while keeping the guy in the car calm and eventually he was on his way to the hospital. Once everything was over we had a chance to collect our thoughts and I can tell you, I was very shaken up. Eventually I realized that my friend and I were miraculously spared in this freak event. If I had continued to try to get in the car, in just seconds, my head and neck would have been hit and given the speed at which the car was travelling, I know the potential injury at that angle could have been fatal or life altering. I know that God performed a miracle that night to keep us safe from harm and I was truly grateful. Often it is those big events that we think of as miracles, since they truly take our breathe away, but there are so many more that are equally miraculous. In Matthew 14, we read about Jesus feeding the five thousand. The crowds were following him and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. “As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, this is a remote place, and it is already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food. Jesus replied, They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish, they answered. Bring them here to me, he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five leaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves.” As you know in the story, not only did they have enough for everyone, but they had 12 basketfuls of leftovers. Have you ever had a time in your life when you were worried you might not have enough to eat? Many of my friends can tell stories, as can I, of when their cupboard or frig was rather bare and someone came through the door with a pot of soup, an invitation to join them for dinner or a gift card to a grocery store. These are no less true miracles of our Heavenly Father meeting our needs than Jesus feeding the five thousand. And was this the only time when God stepped in to actually feed people? Let’s take a look at Exodus 16, where we hear the story about the Israelites being able to get out of Egypt where they had been enslaved for so many years. The Israelites were terrified when they saw the chariots coming after them and when God parted the sea for them to cross on dry land, they were filled with joy and singing praises to God. Then later as they continued into the desert they started to complain again because they were thirsty and arrived at a place called Marah that had water but the water was bitter. In verse 25 we read, “Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink. There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to this commands and keep his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.” Right after this, the Israelites start grumbling again and saying things like, “We would have been better off if you had left us in Egypt, at least we had food there.” And then God provides manna from heaven every day and again everyone had enough. So God has always provided for our physical needs by giving us enough food and water. Maybe his provisions for us today don’t seem like miracles because they typically don’t fall out of the sky, but perhaps we change how we look at it and thank him daily for the miracle of the food he provides for us. The last line of that verse made me pause, because I know I have never focused on it before. “For I am the Lord, who heals you.” Our Creator God knows what our earthly bodies need to heal us and provides it for us in our food or the manna from heaven, all because He is the Lord who heals us. He gave Jesus the power to heal the man born blind in John 9 and he kept me safe from being injured in what could have been a devastating car accident. In Philippians 4:19, we are reminded, “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Something I notice in that verse is that our Father will meet all our needs, not all our wants. In a world with a smorgasbord of choices, it is easy for us to blur our wants with our needs, but at the end of the day God knows what our needs are and satisfies them. When Jesus went to his hometown to teach the people there, many of them recognized him as the son of Mary and Joseph and in Matthew 13:57-58 we discover this: “And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” And he did not do miracles there because of their lack of faith.” Isn’t it interesting that the people of his hometown lost out because they took offense to Jesus and had no faith? As we look back at our life for evidence of God’s miracles let’s not lose sight of the daily miracles we enjoy. By keeping the dialogue open throughout our day, we can recognize and appreciate every way our lives are blessed. If you are seeking a miracle in your life or in that of a loved one, start with gratitude like Jesus did with the loaves and fishes when he looked up to heaven, acknowledging where all the miracles and healing come from and believe faithfully that it is possible. Remember Matthew 19:20, “Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for healing the sick, feeding the hungry and showing us that with God all things are possible. Thank you for keeping me safe as I travel today in my community. Thank you for meeting all my needs today and for the food you have provided for me to share with others. Thank you for the money in the bank to buy groceries when I need to and thank you for all the people involved in providing our food, from the farmers to the lady at the check-out. Please bless every one of them for what they do, serving you, to make my life easier and to meet my needs and heal my body.

Amen