04/25/2023
You might be in need of a miracle, but do you ever see yourself as a miracle worker? That may sound like a leap too grand to make, but it actually might be the remedy to your own problem.
For what do you pray? “Lord, my marriage is in trouble. I need a miracle!” “Lord, my bank account is in the red. Please, send me a miracle!” “Lord, my child is making bad decisions that will affect him for the rest of his life. All I ask is for your miraculous intervention!”
When we offer those prayers of desperation, we often follow them with a cloud of uncertainty. We sit and wait. We go about our normal routine. We stir and fret. We grow more anxious as the days turn into weeks, and still, no miracle comes.
I don’t pretend to understand the mysteries of God’s divine plan. I can’t explain why He answers some prayers with a resounding “yes” and others with a simple “no” and still others with the silence of “not yet.” But what I do believe is that our needs are often met through our obedience. In fact, our needs become less important when we pursue the presence of God and become for others what we desire for ourselves.
Our longing for a miracle is overshadowed by the joy of becoming a miracle worker for someone else. And at that moment, peace triumphs over chaos, and anxiety is stilled in the waters of God’s grace. Johnnie Moore writes,
Grace is the miracle that each of us can exercise at will in the world around us. We can’t cause seas to part, but we can drop cash-filled envelopes anonymously on the desks of single moms. We can’t turn water into wine, but we can sacrifice a little bit of our income to pay for a well to be drilled in a slum in an impoverished village. We can’t banish suffering, but we can make it more bearable for those navigating through one of life’s difficult decisions (Dirty God: Jesus in the Trenches, 180).
The miracle of grace compels us to move from consumers to contributors because grace transforms us from passive recipients to active agents. Our poverty turns to riches when we focus not on ourselves but on the needs of others. We become conduits for the flow of grace, and, in return, God’s grace spills over into the empty places of our own lives.
I remember Howard Hendricks saying that he asked a crotchety old woman one time, “How are you doing today?” And she said, “Oh, not too bad under the circumstances.” And Hendricks said, “Well, what are you doing under there?” If you are under your circumstances you are not rising above to extend the miracle of grace to others.
Are you in need of a miracle? Then become a miracle worker for someone else. Extend the miracle of grace today, and you just might discover your miracle in return.
