The miracle of a hand growing back, the raising of a dead person, a terminally ill patient fully restored to health, a child born to an infertile woman, a cripple stepping out of the confines of a wheel chair and walk… we have heard these testimonies and stand in wonder of an awesome God who is able to do more than we could ask for or even imagine – His intervention at the 12th hour.
But what about the ones we pray for who are not cured of their cancer, who get murdered in a foreign land when doing God’s work, who lose a child to an illness, who seemingly do not have God step in and demonstrate His great power at a time when it would really be nice?
Who can fathom the mind of God and why He intervenes miraculously in one time or place and not in another?
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If the God we serve is able to deliver us, then he will deliver us from the blazing furnace and from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
Daniel 3:16-18
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had the right perspective. They knew their God could deliver them, BUT. And there it is…BUT. “But even if he does not…”
Their trust fully in the Hands of God. Their resolve fixed and plain.
Do we worship a God in just the good times and abandon Him in the bad times? Do we not believe we serve a miraculous God when He does not perform at our whim? Who are we to tell God what to do when we have no idea of the scheme of things? Do we think we can manipulate or trick God into performing a miracle?
This is the God that created the Heavens and the Earth, and all in it. This is the God who gives life with His Breath and can take it away. This is the God who CAN do miracles, who DOES do miracles…BUT.
The greatest miracle, of all, is when we choose to surrender our lives, put our trust fully in the Hands of God and make our resolve fixed and plain – He is LORD.