Posted on 03/14/2017 7:17:33 AM PDT by Gamecock
Divine providence tells us that God actively rules over His creatures, directing their actions and decisions to bring about His purposes (Prov. 16:33; Acts 17:26–27a; Eph. 1:11). But as we have seen, the Lord does not typically govern His creation by overriding the skills, talents, personalities, and other aspects of human beings. Furthermore, in ruling and directing the universe and all that is in it, God does not usually suspend the various natural laws and processes that He has established in creation. He does not often work against the order He has put in place but normally works out His plan in and through the structures He created.
Yet, God has worked against the parameters of the created order in select instances. Any such act is known as a miracle. In today’s pas-sage, for example, we read about the iron ax-head He made to float during Elisha’s ministry (2 Kings 6:1–7). Established rules of density and buoyancy mean that an iron ax-head cannot normally sit on the surface of a body of water. For that ax-head to float, God had to suspend certain natural laws, and thus a miracle happened.
It is important to distinguish between bona fide miracles and the Lord’s governing His world in and through ordinary means such as physical laws. Many people will talk about the miracle of a sunrise or of childbirth. Such references are generally well-intentioned, and individuals who say such things are certainly correct that God—because of divine providence—is involved in every sun-rise and childbirth. But in the normal course of things, a sunrise or childbirth is not a miracle. God established the regular movements of planets and the process of human conception and childbirth, and any sunrise or birth occurring within such parameters is the result of God’s ordinary providential working through means, not the extraordinary providence of miracles.
Of course, there have been miraculous conceptions and births in history—the most notable being the conception and birth of Jesus, who was born to a virgin, a woman who according to the ordinary course of creation could not conceive because she had not known a man (Luke 1:26–38). That Jesus had a miraculous conception and birth is also notable because God does miracles only during periods when He grants special revelation. The Lord continues to answer prayer and act in His creation, but He does not do miracles today be-cause He is not revealing Himself through prophets and Apostles
Coram Deo
Because God is sovereign over His creation and can direct it to whatever ends He desires, we can be confident that He can answer our prayers. Though God in His sovereignty retains the right to say yes or no to us, He is nevertheless able to heal the sick, change hearts, and do other things that we pray for. If we are confident in God’s sovereignty, we will be confident in our prayers.
Passages for Further Study
Exodus 4:21 And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.
Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 dhow shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Ping!
Miracles tend to be overrated. The children of Israel were fed with manna everyday (except the Sabbath) and yet could not see God's providence in this daily miracle. The Jews saw Christ rise from the dead but that didn't stop them from making up lies. If we saw a miracle today, we would want another one tomorrow.
But I not sure I totally agree with the author that miracles do not happen today and are regulated to the time of the apostles. One of God's greatest miracles is still yet to come, the resurrection of the dead when our bodies will be reformed. Miracles just tend to be very few and far between events. They are not everyday occurrences.
Every time God gives someone a heart of flesh a miracle has happened. We certainly don't do it by ourselves.
We are amazed at what happens on stage and what God really does has become too ordinary.
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