Concerning miracles
An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a miracle; and a miracle will not be given it, except the miracle of Jonah. (Mathew 16:4)
Miracles and signs impress people but generate little or no changes. Of course, at first people are strongly moved, but the emotions miracles cause dissipates so quickly that the witnesses return to their old ways without changing. Miracles incite men to comply with the supernatural and to imagine how God acts instead to be transformed through his word and to participate in the development of the world through their own choices and efforts.
To avoid terrible tragedies that would destroy humanity and darken his plans (but also to show his control of the laws of nature) the Eternal God sometimes manifests himself by miracles. However, such types of interventions have only a limited influence on man and hardly encourage him to change his life. God uses miracles merely when other means turn out inappropriate to man’s salvation.
God knows that miracles do not change people, only people can change themselves; but to do that, they have to make choices and get proactive. Miracles can often prevent the heart of man to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;[…] always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:6-10)
The behavior of the Israelites clearly shows that witnessing a miracle did not really transfigure them. They witnessed the miraculous splitting of the red sea that saved them from annihilation by the Egyptian armies. However, the survivors immediately began complaining about life's conditions as soon as they found refuge in the desert. During forty years, the people of Israel sojourned and thrived in a wilderness where the laws of nature were miraculously upside down. Indeed, it was not the earth, which provided the bread, but the sky that lavished a daily portion of Manna. It was not the sky that brought water, but the earth from which water miraculously and abundantly flowed from a rock.
The people lived in the desert like a fetus within his mother’s womb providing all the necessities for life. Despite this protection, Israel was complaining and rebelling again and again. But why? The miracles made them take for granted their daily provisions and protection. The miraculous desert was not the destination but a part of their journey, a passage to the “Promised Land”, their original destination. However, when they were about to get there the people were unwilling to enter and sent in twelve spies to check it out. When the spies returned and told the people the “Promised Land” devours its inhabitants, they had even less desire to leave the miraculous wilderness that allowed them to enjoy life without getting tired. They must have wondered, “What can the Promised Land bring?” Why should we leave this wonderful desert were God encompasses us with daily miracles? Why should we enter a land where hard work, sweat and tears are necessary to get daily food?
Only Joshua and Caleb were in a hurry to leave that life of assistance in the desert in order to go to work. Contrary to the multitude, another spirit worked in them: cease living on miracles and assistance, and conquer the “Promised Land” to cultivate it until there flows “milk and honey”. The Holy Spirit was encouraging them in the same way as the New Testament is encouraging us today through the mouth of the apostle Paul:
My beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12)
The behavior of the Israelites perfectly illustrates the real identity crisis of all of humanity, which also constantly asks: “Where can we find God?” “Is he in us or is he beyond us?” “Are we on earth to talk about the miracles of God or are we on earth to participate in our choices and our efforts in the transformations of our being and that of the world?”
During the forty years in the wilderness the Israelites he learned that God’s power is beyond the laws of nature, and that miracles do in no way transform beings and that they never will be gods. Since then believers know implicitly that there is only one God - the Lord God, who is Spirit. In the desert, God manifested the divine transcendence to the people by miracles, but these miracles had a tendency to overshadow in their hearts the divine immanence. In the “Promised Land”, the opposite was true: there the divine immanence overshadowed in the hearts the divine transcendence and this to the point that the people no longer recognized the everlasting power of God. However:
That which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (Romains 1:19-20)
Divine transcendence and immanence are two demonstrations where the LORD God shows that our successes and our efforts always depend on Him. “The divine spark” within us - the original breath of God - restlessly demands to evolve and emerge to manifest itself outside. Today science and technology are making amazing progress. Creatures become creators who are ready to ascend to the stature of gods who do what they please. Will this power to be “like God” destroy humanity or serve to transform it so that the divine light in us shines out from the heart into this world?
For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. (Hebrew 4:2)
Let us humbly choose what we have to do by obeying the commandments of God by bringing together the Holy Spirit working within us with the Spirit of God that is beyond us. Our life is our business. Our history is a part of the history of humanity, and the history of humanity is ultimately the history of this “One God” we have the privilege to serve. We are all, consciously or not, a part of this divine adventure, the History of God. That is why there is no greater joy or bigger happiness than to serve the LORD God consciously by humbly obeying His Word.
This miracle occurs when the Holy Spirit can spread the love of God in our heart. Our spirit can then confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh - our flesh - because the divine spirit in us (the divine immanence) is in communion with the divine transcendence (the divine spirit beyond us) to think, say and do everything with love. We experience the mystery of the oneness of God. In addition, our reward is to let God's love shine around us through our choices and work that participate thus in development of the world.
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. (1 John 4:2-3).