“Wow! What a miracle! God must be real!” These are words I’ve heard uttered many times after I share what transpired in the life of my ministry partner Jamie throughout her ordeal with flesh-eating bacteria. Interesting to consider, had she never gone through the trial of her illness and subsequent hospitalization, there never would have been such a testimony of God’s miraculous working in her life. Have you ever stopped to consider that virtually every miracle you’ve heard of or read about involves some kind of situation that would be described as a crisis, trial, or tribulation?
The infamous plagues in Egypt came about only after the Israelites cried out to God for help due to their being slaves in bondage to the oppressive Egyptians. The miraculous parting of the Red Sea came about because it appeared to the distraught Israelites that they were going to be overtaken by the Egyptian army. The legendary story of David striking the giant Goliath with the stone occurred only when the Israelites needed someone to rescue them from the clutches of the Philistines.
Daniel’s miraculous escape from the jaws of the lion’s mouths would not have occurred had he not first been thrown into the lion’s den. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego could never have testified to God’s divine intervention in their coming out unscathed from a fiery furnace had they not been thrown into the furnace in the first place. Many miraculous testimonies from the recent Oklahoma tornadoes—for example, the woman and her small dog surviving the utter destruction of her home—would never have arisen out of the rubble had there never been a tornado. Jamie would never have known the miraculous healing power of God had she not had the dreaded flesh-eating bacteria.
Faith in God, “without which it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6) often is a necessary ingredient for miracles to occur. Moses and his brother Aaron stood resolutely up to Pharaoh, the most powerful person in the world at the time, because they trusted in God’s word that He would deliver His people. The parting of the Red Sea occurred after Moses demonstrated his faith in God by raising his staff in obedience to God’s command. David, a mere shepherd boy, boldly faced Goliath and endured the mockery of the Philistines as well as those in the Israelite camp—including his brothers—because He had faith that the God who had saved him from the bear and the lion in the fields where he protected his sheep would be with him and give him the victory over the giant who defied the Name of the Living God.
Daniel’s faith in God led him to pray at his usual times and in his usual place, even after an edict prohibiting such behavior and knowing that he would be subject to punishment for doing so. His faith led him to be thrown into the lion’s den, and his faith also led him safely out of it. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had faith to refuse to worship the king, even though by not doing so they knew they courted death in a fiery furnace. They also trusted in God’s power to save them, and they surrendered their will to His superior will knowing that even if He did not save them they would never worship anyone other than the One True God. Their faith in God led them to be thrown into the fiery furnace; their faith in God also led to their miraculous rescue from the flames. The woman in the tornado in Oklahoma had the faith to pray for her own and her dog’s safety; both emerged miraculously unhurt while everything around them was leveled. Jamie’s faith in God led her to cry out to Him for healing as soon as her pain began; her faith in His power and love preceded the miracle of her having a flesh-eating bacteria that did not eat any of her flesh!
God works miracles to bring glory to His Name; to strengthen the faith of the Body of believers who know Him; and to draw those who don’t yet know Him to Himself in order that they too might gain saving faith in the One Who died —and lives —for them!
Most everyone would say they would love to experience a miracle from God. The question is, do you really have faith in Our Miracle-working God? And, are you willing to endure whatever is necessary to prove His miracle-working power?
Written by Julie Van Gorp