By Gina Caswell Kelly
In our Sunday school class, there is a family who has a little one that has been going through a pretty tragic health crisis. Of course we have all been praying for that little one. The first reports we got were not very good, and in talking to some healthcare professionals, it didn’t seem like there was much chance of improvement. But, as we say, “But God…”
Everyday, the reports have gotten better and better, and the sweet baby girl looks like she is on the road to recovery. Not completely out of the woods, I don’t guess, but much better than was expected. As we talk about her recovery, it seems we all have a hard time using the “M” word. In all honesty, I think what we are seeing is nothing short of a miracle in this little one’s life. It has been amazing.
Here is the question, why is it so hard for us to call it a miracle? Do we just think miracles are only really huge things that impact thousands, as in the Red Sea? Do we think that miracles are only those things that require great flashes of light and amazing sights? The truth is that our God is not in the business of doing card tricks and pulling a rabbit out of the hat. When He parted the Red Sea in the Old Testament, it wasn’t just a magic trick to get the people to recognize His power. No, it was to save them from the Egyptians who were hot on their trail. In fact, all the miracles in the Bible were about giving people what they needed to be rescued or have a need met. They were not about magic tricks at all!
I heard someone say one day that God doesn’t do miracles any longer. He said, “You never see Him parting the Red Sea anymore.” Here is the truth. He could part the Red Sea all day long, and it still would not make this little girl better. A Red Sea parting was not what she needed. Healing was what she needed. When God meets your needs, He shows you His love. It may not always be in a dramatic way, but we see God so often in the simple things in life.
In I Kings 19, we see the prophet Elijah looking for God. God had told him He would pass by. “The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
It was in the stillness that God appeared. When God works a miracle in your life, call it what it is! He works in the great things and He works in the small things. But it is the fact that He does work in our lives that makes a difference.
