Believe in Miracles

In the 1980 Winter Olympics, the hockey gold medal was almost guaranteed to go to the Soviet team. Winners of the last four Olympic hockey gold medals going back to 1964, the Soviet team was the obvious pick once again. With their last loss all the way back in 1968, the Soviets showed their impressive team off once again by defeating the U.S. by a score of 10-3 in an exhibition game just days before the start of the Olympic games. 

With an average age of just 22, the United States team was far less experienced than the Soviets whose team had been playing with each other for nearly 20 years, and as such were not expected to progress very far. But something incredible began to happen: the Americans were winning. And they kept on winning, until they were matched up against the Soviet team once again. In the interest of time, I will shorten the story a bit: the U.S. team won after a close and hard-fought game. A group of young, college aged men defeated the greatest hockey team in the world, because they believed. Dubbed the “Miracle on Ice” this event is considered one of the greatest upsets in sports history.

A miracle is defined as a fortunate outcome despite overwhelming odds against it. It is also an event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature and is so held to be supernatural in origin.

The Bible is filled with many accounts of miracles, but we will just touch upon a few. One of the earliest examples which we read is found in Exodus 14, with the parting of the Red Sea. With the armies of Pharaoh pressing close, Moses and the Hebrew people seemed to be left with no where to escape. Until there was. With the staff of Moses outstretched over the sea, God parted the waters providing the escape the people needed to reach safety.

Before I get to the next miracle on our list, how long do you think you could make of a handful of flour last to make some bread out of? You probably could only make a small bun-sized piece of bread out of it, right? Well read this next passage.

1 Kings 17:10-16  “So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.

And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.

And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.

And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.

For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.

And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.

And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.”

What happened in this passage was truly a miracle by God. In fact it is very similar to the miracle that Jesus performed when Jesus fed thousands of people not once, but twice with just a small amount of bread and fish. It must have seemed like an impossible feat to accomplish, but it happened.

And what of all of the people that Jesus and His apostles healed? The raising of Lazarus from the tomb, or the young girl whom Jesus brought back to life? The blind man who had been born blind, who Jesus put clay on his eyes and told to go wash in the pool? The turning of water into wine in John 2? All of these things did not just happen on their own. They were miracles from God.

So how about you? Do you believe in miracles? I do. Miracles from God happen all the time, but many people fail to realize that each time a child is born life has been created and that that is truly a miracle. Each day that begins is truly a miraculous event as it is only God that creates each day. No one else can claim that distinction. 

How many people are in a position or situation in which everything seems hopeless, and that there is no escape? How many people are faced with a “life-threatening” disease, or a disease with no cure, as the woman with the blood issue in Mark 5 had, and are left with no escape from it? Do you know how that woman was healed? Her faith in Christ. She believed that she could be healed if she touched just the edge of Jesus’ clothes, and she was.

One more time: Do you believe in miracles?

In Christ,

Andrew