"I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it." Isaiah 41:19, 20
Miracles do not need to be, or remain, mysteries in order to be miraculous. When scientist discover that the events found in Exodus could very well have happened, and happened through natural causes, we need not be disturbed. The Lord of Creation can use His creation as He wills. There are miracles that are miraculous simply because they were the answering of a desperate hope, and not necessarily an unnatural or unexplained occurrence. We have just as much right (and obligation) to glory in these as we do for textbook miracles.
There are still plenty of mysteries, though: the Trinity and the Incarnation, as well as the inner workings of the atonement (will we ever know the depths of horror that encompassed "My God, my God! My hast thou forsaken me!"?). However, what kind of miracle is happening is not nearly as fascinating (or vital) as the fact that they do happen. Why, exactly, do they happen? Why does God bother to invoke the miraculous in our lives, from the healing of deadly diseases to finding a dollar on the sidewalk? What is the purpose of such an involvement? In short: Why do we not have the God of the Deists? Answer: "That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand," i.e., that we might be aware of the reality of God, aware of a Reality beyond our own.
The very nature of God (in that He is triune) reveals an inner disposition of intimate communion. Seeing as how a creation reflects its creator, we were built for that same intimate communion (1) with each other, and (2) with God. We were not designed to walk this world in unblissful ignorance of the God behind and within it. God "made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth." Why? "That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him..." (Acts 17:26, 27). Our Creator is bound up in intimate communion, and He makes that communion know to us in our lives.
The miraculous are safeguards against practical agnosticism; they are sharp reminders of the reality of the God we are to know if we are to live (Note: Suffering does the same thing. What was Job's reward for going through his afflictions? "I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye seeth thee." Job 42:5). Even if a miracle can be explained as a result of natural causes (as though natural causes are separate from the God of Nature), even if we somehow figure out how it happened, we are still left with why it happened. Lewis said something similar in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: just because you know what something is made of does not mean that you know what it is. Just because you worked out the mechanics of a thing does not mean you have even come close to scratching the surface of that thing's anteriority or teleology. Always remember: the basis behind every miracle, and the end to which it takes us, is the God who is there.
"God above,
Invade my little universe.
Let me behold You,
And know You more..."
-Jon Vowell
Miracles do not need to be, or remain, mysteries in order to be miraculous. When scientist discover that the events found in Exodus could very well have happened, and happened through natural causes, we need not be disturbed. The Lord of Creation can use His creation as He wills. There are miracles that are miraculous simply because they were the answering of a desperate hope, and not necessarily an unnatural or unexplained occurrence. We have just as much right (and obligation) to glory in these as we do for textbook miracles.
There are still plenty of mysteries, though: the Trinity and the Incarnation, as well as the inner workings of the atonement (will we ever know the depths of horror that encompassed "My God, my God! My hast thou forsaken me!"?). However, what kind of miracle is happening is not nearly as fascinating (or vital) as the fact that they do happen. Why, exactly, do they happen? Why does God bother to invoke the miraculous in our lives, from the healing of deadly diseases to finding a dollar on the sidewalk? What is the purpose of such an involvement? In short: Why do we not have the God of the Deists? Answer: "That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand," i.e., that we might be aware of the reality of God, aware of a Reality beyond our own.
The very nature of God (in that He is triune) reveals an inner disposition of intimate communion. Seeing as how a creation reflects its creator, we were built for that same intimate communion (1) with each other, and (2) with God. We were not designed to walk this world in unblissful ignorance of the God behind and within it. God "made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth." Why? "That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him..." (Acts 17:26, 27). Our Creator is bound up in intimate communion, and He makes that communion know to us in our lives.
The miraculous are safeguards against practical agnosticism; they are sharp reminders of the reality of the God we are to know if we are to live (Note: Suffering does the same thing. What was Job's reward for going through his afflictions? "I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye seeth thee." Job 42:5). Even if a miracle can be explained as a result of natural causes (as though natural causes are separate from the God of Nature), even if we somehow figure out how it happened, we are still left with why it happened. Lewis said something similar in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: just because you know what something is made of does not mean that you know what it is. Just because you worked out the mechanics of a thing does not mean you have even come close to scratching the surface of that thing's anteriority or teleology. Always remember: the basis behind every miracle, and the end to which it takes us, is the God who is there.
"God above,
Invade my little universe.
Let me behold You,
And know You more..."
-Jon Vowell
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