Many are looking for some miracle or sign that with spark their faith in God. They hold out waiting for something that will prove without any doubt that the God of the Bible is real. Which honestly only makes sense. Because submitting to and placing all your faith, hope, and trust in something unseen is hard.
The miracles God performed give us a way of seeing Him move in our lives in a real tangible way. But if your faith is built only on a miracle it is sure to fail when time goes by and you do not see God move again. So you slowly forget about what you saw the Lord do before and turn away from Him.
This is exactly what happened to the Israelites time and time again. The entire group was able to witness arguably the most and possibly the greatest miracles to ever take place. They believed and praised God while He led them out of bondage in Egypt. Destroying their enemy in the Red Sea as they watched in awe and wonder.
Psalm 106:9–12 (ESV)
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry,
and he led them through the deep as through a desert.
10 So he saved them from the hand of the foe
and redeemed them from the power of the enemy.
11 And the waters covered their adversaries;
not one of them was left.
12 Then they believed his words;
they sang his praise.
Yet, as time moved on and God was not actively moving among them. They would quickly forget all that He had previously done for them. They would stop adhering to the Lord’s counsel and decrees. Going as far as to even forsake God and instead offer their worship to a golden calf.
Psalm 106:13 (ESV)
13 But they soon forgot his works;
they did not wait for his counsel.
Psalm 106:19–22 (ESV)
19 They made a calf in Horeb
and worshiped a metal image.
20 They exchanged the glory of God
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They forgot God, their Savior,
who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wondrous works in the land of Ham,
and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
The Israelites did not lose faith because God had been distant for a long period of time. They did not fall away because someone came to them with a different gospel or another explanation for the events they witnessed. They turned from God because they never actually trusted God.
Their faith was not placed in God alone like their forefathers. They did not believe in the God that spoke to their ancestors long ago and formed their own nation. They only placed their faith in the miracles they could see and feel in the moment. Once the moment past and the miracle was behind them they quickly became a distant memory that would eventually fade into nothing.
When the time came to cross into the unknown and inherit the promised land. It was not the generation that had been witness to all the miracles that trusted God to get them safely to the other side. They did not have the faith to believe that God would give them the power to overcome their enemies. No, that generation feared and chose not to enter the promised land due to a lack of trust in the Lord.
Deuteronomy 1:26–28 (ESV)
26 “Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. 27 And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.” ’
But the next generation those who had not been witness to the plagues or the parting of the sea or any of the other mighty works God had done in before the eyes of the first generation. Trusted their God and stepped out in faith into the unknown. And God responded to their faith in a mighty way and gave them victory over their enemies. And they were able to enter and take the land promised to their ancestors long before them.
Joshua 3:17 (ESV)
17 Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.
Joshua 6:20 (ESV)
20 So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.
While Jesus walked the earth He performed many great miracles. Those that helped multitudes of people. Each miracle that Jesus performed seems to have a deeper purpose outside of the physical miracle itself. For instance, many of His most notable miracles teach lessons that still need to be taught today. But almost every time Jesus performed a miracle it was used to build and inspire the faith of those who witnessed it.
A great example of Jesus inspiring faith through His miracles was when He brought Lazareth back from the dead. We know very well that Jesus was able to bring people back from the edge of death. Even from a great distance without ever even seeing the person. So why not heal Lazareth the moment He heard of His dire illness? Because He knew how many people would come to faith because of this miracle. In fact, so many people came to faith because of Nazareth that the Pharisees even looked for ways to kill him!
John 12:9–11 (ESV)
9 When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
However, when people would come to Jesus for only a miracle not having any faith or the will to believe He was truly the son of God. Jesus would offer them nothing. He was even prone to openly rebuking those who said they would believe if He would just perform some miracle before them.
Mark 8:11–13 (ESV)
11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” 13 And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.
Matthew 12:38–39 (ESV)
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
Miracles, signs, and wonders are still for today just as they were when the Bible was written. God’s power has not diminished and He has all power over His creation. But the Christian faith is not based on miracles. A miracle can never be the driving force in the faith of any believer. The Christian faith and our hope and trust must be in the unseen. Faith should be built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the sacrifice for the sins of the world. Not believing based on what we see in our life but what we see laid out in scripture.
2 Corinthians 4:18 (ESV)
18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
John 3:16 (ESV)
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
1 John 2:2 (ESV)
2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
When our faith finds its base on those things and not on miracles it will stand the test of time. Then when we are not able to see God moving we won’t waver. But we will continue to trust and believe His promises. See miracles as they should be seen. As blessings from a loving and compassionate God. Not the building blocks of faith.
Support us by sharing this article on social media. Visit Justin’s personal website Here. Or see articles from other writers we feature Here. Also, be sure to stop by our prayer wall.