Are You Missing A Miracle?

By Greg Quinn

March 28th, 2011

Miracles are all around us.  The birth of a child is a miracle.  How a big bird can take flight is a miracle.  The colors of a butterfly and how an ugly worm can become something so beautiful, this is a miracle.  Our human body is a miracle; so many interconnecting components making up the most complex being on earth.  The human mind is a miracle, a small organ with the capacity to contain and retrieve more information that any computer.  It’s a miracle to see someone come from a death-bed to a renewed vitality of life.  It’s a miracle that more people didn’t die during the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of last week.  It’s a miracle that you can read this article.  For those of us who are saved, it is truly a miracle how God created for sinful man a path to eternal life through Jesus Christ, and how easily we have received this gift.  Miracles are all around us. 

Every day there are miracles.  We tend to focus on the big ones.  The ones that are the most significant.  Like for me and my brothers, the miracle of how God saved our mother from death some 23 years ago.  Mom was diagnosed with leukemia.  She wasn’t given much hope; in fact, she was given two days to live.  She underwent treatment and it didn’t seem to be going that well.  Yet, Christians prayed.  Our church prayed.  Other churches prayed.  And a miracle happened.  God saved Mom’s life.  She is totally cancer-free, and alive and well today.  That was a miracle.

Another big miracle that comes to mind is one involving a former brother-in-law.  My wife’s kid sister married a guy.  He had grown up in a bad home environment, was abused, and turned to drugs and alcohol at an early age.  By the time he was in his late teens, he was already addicted to drugs and alcohol.  Yet my sister-in-law married him.  His alcoholism and drug addictions had eaten up his liver and other organs and he was in and out of the hospital.  I remember trying to witness to him many times about how God could change his life, and while the desire was there, the hold of the addictions had him in chains.  I remember being out of town on business and getting a phone call from my wife where Bill was once again in the hospital, and this time they didn’t think he was going to make it.  The family was called together to see him one last time.  He had absolutely no hope in survival.  On his death bed, he had asked to see me.  I cut my trip short and flew home.  Once at the hospital, I asked everyone else out of the room but just Bill and I.  He had been in a drug-induced comatose state, but once I entered the room he woke up and was just as clear-minded as anyone.  I talked to Bill about Jesus, and this time, recognizing the end was near, he listened.  We prayed together. While lying on his hospital bed, he asked Jesus to save him from his sins, and asked Jesus into his heart.  And, for the sake of his wife, and family, I asked God to spare his life.  I witnessed several miracles that day and days following.  One, that he stayed alive long enough for me to get in from out of town.  Two, that he became clear-minded enough to hear and receive the gospel message.  Three, that God saved his soul.  Four and following, that he started the process of getting well almost immediately, left the hospital after a few days, and while only 23 years old, lived another 10 years, had a beautiful daughter, and when he did finally die, had a hope of eternal life in Heaven.

Miracles are all around us.  We pay attention to the big ones.  The smaller ones we miss or take for granted.  But, how many miracles do we miss intentionally?  How many miracles do we miss because of our unbelief?

In Matthew Chapter 11, Jesus began to go about preaching and teaching in the cities round about where he lived.  As Jesus went, he saw sick people, people blind, people maimed, and people who were full of demons.  As he saw these people, he healed them.  News of the miracles of Jesus spread coast to coast, and everywhere he went, miracles happened.  People who were sick, blind, maimed, halt, and demon-possessed were brought to Jesus, and through their faith or the faith of those who brought them, they were saved, healed, and miracles performed.  As he healed, Jesus taught lessons for eternal life, answers to the mysteries of life, and answers to day-to-day living.  Answers that are as true today as they were two thousand years ago.  These answers came from the mind and lips of God.

In Matthew 13, verses 53 through 58, the Bible records the following:

“And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.  And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?  Is not this the carpenter’s son?  Is not his mother called Mary?  And his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?  And his sisters, are they not all with us?  Whence then hath this man all these things?  And they were offended in him.  But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.  And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”  Let that sink in.

Jesus had been on a tour.  Throughout this tour of city after city after countryside, he healed many, he taught many, he performed many miracles.  Word of this man, Jesus, and his miracles spread coast to coast.  Then he came to his own country.  He wanted to perform the same miracles in his own home town, with people he knew and loved, as he did in strange nations.  But, he was restricted from doing so “because of their unbelief”.  Jesus didn’t perform the miracles in his home town as he did other locations because his “homeys” didn’t believe in him and didn’t accept him for who he truly was.  What they thought was knowledge kept them from gaining the truth.  Familiarity breeds contempt.  What they thought they knew constrained them from true knowledge.  And, they missed the miracles.

Flash forward to today.  To your nation.  To your state or province.  To your town.  To your household.  What miracles are you missing today because you refuse to see them?  What miracles are you missing today because of your unbelief?  What miracles are you missing today because what you think you know keeps you from gaining the truth?

And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

Today, we have the advantage of history.  We have the Bible as the only real truth available to us today.  Yet, many miss the miracles of God because they refuse to believe in the Bible.  The Bible give us historical perspective about the history of mankind and the world, lessons to give us a successful life on earth, instruction on how to receive eternal life, an invitation to go to Heaven, teachings on how to get our families to join us in Heaven, instruction on how to get things from God, and the “rest of the story” about the end of the world and the only true predictions for the future.  The Bible teaches of miracles past, of miracles present, of miracles in the future.  You and I can participate in these miracles, and the Bible teaches us how to do so.  Yet, will you miss these miracles because you refuse to believe?

Today, we have the advantage of history.  Not only through the Bible, but from lessons and stories passed down from generation to generation.  Stories of faith and stories of how God performed miracles in people’s lives.  How could Abraham Lincoln become such a great President in the darkest hour of our nation’s history, a man who couldn’t win an election, a man without proper schooling, a country-bumpkin, how could he lead our nation through our toughest time if not but for the hand of God?  A miracle.  I could go on and on.  History sheds light upon the Bible and God as miracle after miracle are portrayed before our eyes.

Today, we have the advantage of history.  Not only through the Bible, but from stories we have heard recently.  Like those I summarized as examples in this article.  Like people you may know who were healed from illness, disease, or injury.  Like opportunities gained.  Like people saved from disasters.  Like people saved from the perils of war. 

Today, we have the advantage of personal experience and testimony.  I can tell you of miracles because I was there and saw them with my own eyes.  You may have as well.  Miracles happened because God’s people prayed, and God’s people believed (key), and God performed miracles that we witnessed.

“And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.  Yet, how many miracles do we miss every day because we do not believe?

Miracles are all around us.  We must open our eyes.  We must believe.

Today, pledge to pray more; ask God to perform miracles in your life and in the lives of those around you.  Today, pledge to expect God to perform miracles more; believe more.  Today, move with expectation that what you have asked of God He will in fact perform; have faith, believe.

Don’t be like those from Jesus’ hometown, those that seeing thought they saw, but being blind they saw not.  Don’t miss the blessing.  Miracles are all around us.  Don’t miss your miracle today.

Greg Quinn