Miracles

I wrote this a couple years ago...I haven't proofread it, so I apologize for that...its just something I have been thinking about again.

I believe in the natural. I believe that the Lord is active, daily, in our lives. I also believe that “believing” in the supernatural is our man-made way of magnifying the Lord. The problem with magnification of this sort is that it is impossible. How do you make something infinitely, out-of-our-comprehension huge even larger? You can’t. You don’t need to. Yet that is what we attempt to do with this so called supernatural. It’s because our view of an infinite King somehow gets emaciated and bastardized into something unrecognizable. You could call it idolatry. I think the problem is not the belief in the supernatural, but a lack of belief that the Lord is working in our lives at all times-good or bad. Also, we are so content going about our lives expecting to be under whelmed that we don’t acknowledge the everyday, seemingly mundane miracles that the Lord performs everyday. We expect so much less than He has promised us. Why is our waking or taking another breath not seen as miraculous to us? We cannot make ourselves perform these acts. Is that not what a miracle is? Something that is unexplainable, that is not caused by anything other than the Lord. If this is true, then it has to be that everything, other than sin, is miraculous, because in and of myself I find only sin. However, the Lord causes all good things. So it must be that when I am able to love someone, it is miraculous. But it is not seen that way…I don’t see it that way. Yet, like all Truth, it is true regardless of how it is perceived.
Another way we “magnify” the Lord is by not acknowledging the work that He has been doing in one’s life, but calling one single act miraculous. Take a surgeon for example and say that this given surgeon performs an extremely delicate procedure with unusual success on an ailing patient. We call this miraculous and rightfully so, but on the wrong merit. Yes, the Lord was at work and ordained the preservation of the patient at that single moment in time and that is miraculous by definition, but let’s look at the entire situation. Did the Lord not allow that surgeon to be trained and taught? And why did that surgeon want to be a surgeon anyhow? And where did not only the desire, but the dedication that it takes to be a surgeon come from? What about all the factors surrounding his life, his character, upbringing, etc and etc that make this surgeon who he is and capable of performing what he does? Are not all these things remarkable in and of themselves despite of the status of any given patient? This is not even acknowledging all the other factors that come into play. Point being that God’s entire plan for our lives is miraculous. The way that every fraction of life, every person, situation, and experience are swept together in such a way that creates a person capable of accomplishing any given obstacle is a miracle.
This brings me to another point of how sinful and content with pretty rubbish we all are. Let’s continue using the scenario of the surgeon, but this time the patient dies. Is the Lord any less good? Is this less of a miracle? We see it that way. But might I propose that the connotation of a miracle being something that is undisputedly great and in one’s favor is a bit of an opiate for mankind. It makes us feel frilly and fuzzy on the inside and we like that, but the fact is that not everything can be seen through our naturally preferred rose-colored glasses. The patient dies, but the Lord is still at work. Why do we only associate miracles with good? Is the miracle not that the Lord is still active in our lives and sanctifying us? This is the big picture miracle. That the Creator of the Earth, the I AM, has been executing his flawless plan from before the beginning of time. That part of this plan is to sacrifice His Son as atonement for people who don’t deserve it. But we don’t acknowledge this miracle as having implications in every aspect and corner in our lives. The dictionary says that a miracle is “an event that is inexplicable by the laws of nature…[exciting] admiring awe.” The gospel, all alone, is a miracle. Not make-it-through-the-day watered-down occurrences. It is through this true miracle, the gospel of Christ, that we should view our lives.