An Observable Truth
Almost every miracle in the Bible occurs after someone obeys God’s expressed will. The creation story is the only exception I can think of.
Remember the Jewish lad who gave up his five loaves and two small fish when Andrew asked him to? He probably thought the Rabbi would eat his lunch. Nope. That small amount of food passed through Jesus’ hands and fed thousands, including him.. But 1st, the boy decided to go hungry and gave up his lunch because the Lord required it. (John 6:8-13 NIV).
Want some more examples?
- When Moses needed a miraculous sign, God told him to cast his staff down. Suddenly it became a snake. Then God told his new prophet to grab the snake by the tail—something you should never do—and it became a staff again. (Exodus 4:1-5 NIV)
Peter wearily dropped his net back in the lake one more time, just because Jesus told him to and hauled in so many fish the boat began to sink. (Luke 5:4-11 NIV).- God cleansed Naaman of his leprosy only after he dunked himself in the Jordan River seven times. If he’d angrily quit after dunking himself five or six times, he would have died a leper. (2 Kings 5 NIV)
- At the wedding in Cana, when the wine ran out, Jesus told the servants to fill the stone jars with water, then changed the water into wine. If they’d refused to draw the water, I am certain no miracle would have occurred.(John 2:1-12 NIV)
All these miracles had a handful of things in common.
God’s Strange Instructions
What God asked each person to do was ridiculous. Dunking yourself repeatedly under water doesn’t cure leprosy. Jesus’ commanded the wedding servants to fill the stone jars with water. Why? How would that help? They needed more wine, not water. As a professional fisherman, Peter knew the best time to catch fish was at night, not during the day. True, tossing his staff on the ground cost Moses very little. But grabbing a strange snake by the tail? That took a bit more courage.
Moses became scared when his staff turned into a snake, but I’m curious. If he hadn’t obeyed God, would the snake have followed him everywhere, waiting to be picked up and turned back into his staff? Because in a way, it did belong to Moses.
Faith? What Faith?
Peter knew casting his nets into the water during the daytime would be a waste of time. The wedding servants? Confused, they still did what Jesus said. Naaman was angry and reluctant. Maybe the prophet Elijah was trying to make him look foolish! After all, he served an enemy king as his general.
None of these people expected anything to happen. Yet each of them obeyed and that’s all God required. And maybe bad-tempered, grumpy, reluctant obedience is the sweetest obedience of all. Because nothing in us wants to obey God at that moment, yet we still do.
Still Waiting?
If you’ve been asking the Lord for a miracle, check inside your heart. Has the Holy Spirit been calling you to obey in some new area? It may look totally unrelated to what you’ve been praying for.
But just remember, obedience unlocks miracles.
