Last year, Hillsong worship leader, Marty Sampson, took to social media with some heartfelt pleas about his faith. His post has since been deleted, but he raised questions that many people have struggled with. As the church, the most loving thing we can do is to address these questions rather than shy away from them.
Let’s take time to address these questions, starting with the question, “Why are there so few miracles?” Have you ever thought about it? We read stories in the Bible, and miracles seem common place. Why don’t we see many, or any, today?
To answer this, we first have to understand what a miracle is. In his book I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, Dr. Frank Turek defines a miracle as “a special act of God that interrupts the normal course of events.” Essentially, a miracle is something that wouldn’t happen if nature were left to its own devices.
Ever advancing technology complicates this as normal continues to change. What is normal now would have been considered extraordinary a thousand years ago. Additionally, when we see the extraordinary, like with a magician, we’ve trained ourselves to look for a natural explanation, or “the trick”.
C.S. Lewis explains this philosophical issue perfectly in his book titled Miracles. He says, “For this reason, the question whether miracles occur can never be answered simply by experience […] If anything extraordinary seems to have happened, we can always say that we have been the victims of an illusion. If we hold a philosophy which excludes the supernatural, this is what we always shall say. What we learn from experience depends on the kind of philosophy we bring to experience. It is therefore useless to appeal to experience before we have settled, as well as we can, the philosophical question.”
This explains the primary reason why people don’t see miracles, because many people don’t want to believe. If you don’t believe in miracles then you will always insist that there’s a trick or an explanation. Inversely, if you believe in the supernatural (i.e. a God who created everything from nothing) then you must conclude that an infinite, all-powerful, supernatural being that created the universe out of nothing can pretty much do whatever he pleases, miracles included, and I believe that there is ample scientific evidence to back up that conclusion.
This explains why some people don’t see miracles, but that doesn’t explain why so few miracles are witnessed by believers today. We must admit that supernatural phenomena certainly aren’t common, but that’s precisely what we should expect.
In order to be recognized, miracles must be rare. If they were common then they wouldn’t be extraordinary. It sounds ridiculously simple, but it’s true. If everybody could walk on water then the story of Jesus walking on water wouldn’t stand out. If people rose from the dead all the time then it wouldn’t have been a big deal when Jesus did it. Thus, by definition miracles can’t be a regular occurrence.
Additionally, miracles serve a purpose. We tend to think that miracles happened all the time in the Bible. We read these stories in quick succession and forget that the Bible can cover hundreds of years within a single verse. The time covered between both Old and New Testaments is thousands of years. Thus, while we tend to think that miracles happened all the time in the Bible, they were actually quite rare, much like today.
Moses performed miracles for roughly 40 years. Jesus’ miracle ministry lasted three years. The apostles did miracles for maybe 20 years after Christ’s resurrection. Given the span of time covered in scripture, the amount of time devoted to miracles was quite limited.
Additionally, these miracles accompanied a message. Jesus and the apostles came preaching a new message of God’s love and redemption. The religious leaders responded by asking, “By what authority are you doing these things? What miraculous sign will you show us?” (John 2:18 CEB).
Why should they follow Jesus? Because he’s the one doing miracles. Why follow Moses, Peter, Paul, or John? Because they’re doing miracles. The message they preached held authority because they have the stamp of approval from God, miracles.
Does this mean that miracles DON’T happen today? Of course not, but it does explain why they are rare. God still works miracles and even works within the natural law to further his plan. If we are open to the possibility, and in touch with him, then we will be able to see his hand at work in many situations.
Jesus stated, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32 CEB). Seeking truth is seeking God. As Christians, we shouldn’t be afraid of seeking truth. Maybe it will be uncomfortable or challenge what we think we know about God and our world, but ultimately it will bring us to a deeper and more intimate understanding of God. So, seek truth, seek God, and when difficult topics arise, don’t be afraid to talk about it.