Many Christians don't see God in their trials. If no miracles are happening – if the floods aren't receding or the cancer is not in remission – then they think God must not be at work. That’s because they look at miracles as the kind in the movie, The Ten Commandments. "Those ten plagues on Egypt, now that was God up to something big." Agreed, frogs and lice in Pharaoh's bed made for a great film years ago. Ah, but if we could only watch the real movie of how God runs the world from behind the scenes...
Oh, the infinite complexity of it all! Talk about God doing miracles! I mean, just think of the miraculous way He wrenches good out of evil like blood from a turnip – the way God operates behind-the-scenes, always exploiting Satan's worst escapades. And think of the miraculous divine balancing act of weather systems across the globe which assure the arrival of summer… think of the way God even infiltrated grace and salvation behind the barbed wire of Russian death camps. And look at the miraculous way God rallies the exact number of white blood cells… that He calls each one into action to defeat your illness.
I tell you, if we could only watch the way God works behind-the-scenes – friend, those are miracles! The delicately balanced, invisible workings of our great God – that’s real drama. Meanwhile, he wants us to trust him. As Jesus told skeptical Thomas in John 20:29 right after the resurrection, he said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; but blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
So, friend, why do we still doubt? We know God is always shifting and pulling and pushing and making things happen behind the scenes… why do we doubt Him? Why can’t we trust Him? Each of us must experience a thousand miracles in our lives every day! Maybe we don’t believe, maybe we don’t trust because in our heads, we cannot find mental wrapping paper wide enough to neatly package the powerful truth of the sovereignty. It takes faith to realize that our Almighty God is moving miraculously in our lives every day. 1 Peter 1:12 tells us that "Even angels long to look into these things."
Friend, our inability to comprehend something doesn't make it untrue or any less miraculous. As Paul put it in Romans 11:33, "how unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!" Count His miracles today... count the many narrow misses… count the smiles, count the words of encouragement and expressions of gratitude sent your way today… count the safety and wellbeing and health of your children and grandchildren… count the miracle of being able to worship God freely in a country like this… count the miracles that even angels long to look into, and then, thank Him.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
© Joni and Friends