Open my eyes so I can see what you show me of your miracle-wonders.
Psalm 119:18 The Message
Moses parting the Red Sea has always been one of my favorite Bible stories. It is amazing. Can you even imagine what it must have been like??? The Israelites are finally allowed to leave the land in which they had been enslaved for years. I like to imagine the excitement bubbling in the air as they made their way out of Egypt. They had been told such a day would come and now finally it had! But, of course, it wouldn’t be that simple. Pharaoh changed his mind and the Egyptian army comes after them as they are camped on the edge of the Red Sea. They start to panic—knowing they will all be killed or taken captive once again. Then God works a miracle. Moses stretches his hand out over the water and the water parts—an enormous wall on either side and, miracle of miracles, dry land appears in the middle! The wagons will be able to come through!!! Everyone makes it to the other side and just as the Egyptians are trying the same trick, the water comes crashing down.
We all know this story; indeed, most people who are not even Christ followers know this passage. It is hard to miss. But there is another passage like it that we do miss. After making it out of Egypt, safely crossing the Red Sea, and after wandering for 40 years in the wilderness, the Israelites are finally allowed to enter the promised land. For them to do so, God must part the water of the Jordan River for Joshua just like He did for Moses all those years ago. (Joshua 3) A second body of water was parted! We miss it though. We have heard about it being done before so we hardly take time to notice this second parting of a large body of water. We are numb to the miracle.
Why is this? Why is it so easy for us to overlook this miracle? And if we overlook this one, how many other hidden miracles do we miss? How many miracles happen in my life that I miss or take for granted? What day-to-day events do we dismiss as nothing when a miracle actually happened right before our eyes? The car that was speeding around the bend on the wrong side of the road that should have hit us. The medical scare that the doctors re-examine and are unable to find. All of these are miracles. But we dismiss them as nothing. We are skilled drivers and averted the accident. It was a misdiagnosis and that’s why the doctor couldn’t find anything. How many opportunities to honor and glorify God do we miss out on by discounting the miracles He puts in our path on a daily basis?
Yes, I know miracles are considered miracles because they aren’t supposed to happen all the time—or are they? The definition of the word miracle is: “a surprise and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.” (From Oxford Languages) What if instead of dismissing miracles as something God only does in the Bible, and maybe once per century now, what if we reveled in the event that turned out surprisingly good for no earthly reason we can credit. What if we looked at everything, not through the lens of what is comprehensible to our human brains, but rather through the lens of heaven, seeing all the times and chances that He protected us from threats we didn’t even know were there?