03/16/2024
God performed miracles throughout the Bible, and He used various men of God and His Son Jesus to perform many of them, just as He uses men and women of faith to perform them today, but after the intense rush of faith, and the awe of that amazing moment has passed, what do we do the next day? Do we walk on, and simply let the fire of that moment die down, go to ash, and be forgotten, or is there more? Do we thank God in the moment, then recover the next day from the spiritual aftermath and hangover of it; that is left by the water that was turned to wine, or the words that God has spoken to us? Or is there “something” more?
“Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.”
Genesis 12:7-9 ESV
In the moment when a miracle is performed we drop to our knees and thank God for it, but what do we do the next day, and all the days that follow? I like the story of Abram where God speaks to him and promises him the land. Several things happen here; first Abram accepts the promise then memorializes it by building an altar on the site of the miracle, but then he moves into the land he has just been given where he makes camp and claims what God has given him. But, it doesn’t end here either because once again Abram builds another altar. So on the day after, and the days after that, Abram travels and calls upon the name of the Lord. Have you ever witnessed a miracle, or been a part of one? How did you feel at the moment, and what did you do the next day? Did you continue to worship? Did you wonder if what you had experienced had truly been a miracle? Or, did time erase it from your memory?
A few years ago when the city where I live require everyone to have their cars inspected each year for emissions. Each month a segment of the population was required to go to an inspection station and comply. Naturally a large number would procrastinate, and wait until the final day. This meant that a long line would form. I was no different than the other procrastinators, and one year I waited until the final day to get my car inspected. I knew as I drove towards the inspection station that there would be a long line, but as I turned onto the street for my inspection there was no line of cars; in fact there was not a single car in the building or waiting there. I wondered to myself whether I had become confused and if today was a holiday. So I hesitantly turned into the drive, pulled around back where the entrance was, and found that all three doors were open, two looked like they were waiting to receive cars, but the other had orange traffic cones blocking it. So I slowly pulled towards one of the open doors when a young woman stepped out, removed the orange cones, and motioned me to enter that bay.
Once inside I handed her my registration paper and ten dollars for the inspection. She took them, but then with an odd look on her face she turned back to me and asked “Are you a pastor or something?” I told her that I was a believer in Jesus Christ but was not a pastor. Once again she turned to walk away, but came right back and asked “Are you sure you are not a pastor?” Again I told her no, that I was a Christian man, and taught Sunday school, but that I was not a pastor. She turned away again but turned right back and said…”Are you sure, because last night I dreamed about you.” Every hair on my body stood up, and I knew I was experiencing a miraculous encounter. I told her “no” one last time and she proceeded to run the tests on my car. Once complete she handed me my passing certificate and stood there without moving and watched me as I pulled out. It was then that I noticed that there were still no cars in sight, but when I turned onto the street towards home I saw a line of cars coming towards the station, and tears filled my eyes. I was confused.
It didn’t end there. As I pulled up to the traffic light on the main road there was a car immediately in front of me, and when I looked at it I saw something amazing… across the back window, stretching from side to side were a set of angel wings, and I began to cry. Something wonderful was happening, and I had no other explanation than that I had just encountered the divine… a miracle.
I prayed often about his, and many other miracles occurred, but the next year I started texting with a Christian brother in Atlanta Georgia each day about our joint devotional reading, and by the end of the year those texts had become the daily devotional that I have been called to write and send out each day.
That Christmas my son and daughter-in-law gave me a website to post them in, and that first year, without me doing anything more than posting them there, it was read in 98 countries, all 50 states, and on every continent except Antarctica. The next year it was read in 133 countries, every state, and on every continent except Antarctica (I couldn’t verify Antarctica). Miracles happen, God speaks to us, and if we say “Here am I Lord”, he will use us. Looking back I see that when I was asked “Are you a pastor or something?” I might not have been a pastor at the time of that divine encounter, but I was destined to be called, and to become “something” for God.
So, I ask again, have you ever witnessed a miracle, or had one occur in your life? If so, what did you do the next day? Did you believe? Did your faith increase? Did you say “Here am I Lord? Perhaps it is time to begin looking about for those miraculous things we once attributed to happenstance, and see them for what they are… miracles... and then keep ourselves attuned to them during the days that follow.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for interacting miraculously with us in our daily lives. Thank you for the rescues, the miraculous provisions, and the callings that come in ways that leave us in absolute awe. Thank you for reaching out to us time and time again until at last we acknowledge you. Help us Holy Father to see that we are not all called to be pastors, preachers, prophets, or church leaders, but that we all are called to be “something”. Open our eyes Lord when we are picking up a piece of trash in the church foyer, or teaching children a basic bible story, to the fact that this is our calling, and that receiving it might have come in some miraculous way. Open our hearts, and let the emotion of an encounter with you, Jesus, your Holy Spirit, or an angel bring tears to our eyes, or cause us to drop to or knees in fear, awe, or worship. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our god who was, and is, and is to come. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow… miraculous, loving, full of grace. Pour out your miracles upon us, and let the unbelievers see them and come to know and believe in you by them, and the believers be encouraged. In each encounter, and every miracle, we give you the praise, and the glory. In every amazing and miraculous brush with you we worship you more, and answer “Here am I Lord!”
Amen
“Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.”
John 2:7-11 ESV
Rich Forbes