Miracles are spontaneous
Scripture Reading: Mark 16:17-18; Psa. 72:18
In Mark 16:17-18 the Lord Jesus spoke to the eleven disciples. He said, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it shall by no means harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will be well.” These two verses cover the matter of miracles. How should we view these two verses?
One
We have to pay attention to one thing: No one can make a performance out of any part of God’s Word, and no part of God’s Word can be performed by man. Man is incapable of performing not only these two verses in Mark 16 but also any part of the Scriptures. God answered the prayer of Elijah on Mount Carmel by sending down fire, but this was only for the purpose of proving that Jehovah was God and that Baal was not God (1 Kings 18:30-39). God is willing to use miracles to prove Himself and prove that He is God. But He is not willing to allow man to use miracles as a kind of performance. Some try to perform the verses in Mark 16, but God does not honor their performance; He allows them to fail. You cannot say that they do not believe in the word of Mark 16 they believe. But God will not vindicate them; He will not prove Himself to them because He is God. He only does what He wants to do; He will not work according to man’s wish.
Two
We have to remember a spiritual principle: Faith is a spontaneous and effortless thing. Christians who are immature in their faith find it very strenuous to make God answer their prayers. Every time they try to get an answer from God, they have to pump up much faith. They have to consciously exercise their faith. It seems as if they are saying, “I am believing! I am believing!” Although their prayers are answered, they become worn out in their believing. After they learn the proper lesson, they still pray, they still believe, and God answers their prayer. But they no longer have to exert much effort. They pray spontaneously, and God answers their prayers spontaneously. Previously they exerted considerable strength to believe; it seemed as if their heart and energy were drained through such an exercise of faith. They wanted to believe, yet they could not believe. They did not find faith in themselves, and they tired themselves out by such believing. But after they learn the lesson, their faith is spontaneous; it becomes an effortless faith.
Three
Faith is spontaneous, and so are miracles. Those who perform miracles are never conscious that they are performing miracles. To those who have faith in God, miracles are ordinary things. Only those who are far from God think that miracles are something extraordinary. Those who live in the presence of God and who are near God do not think that miracles are extraordinary.
Brothers and sisters, we have read the story of the Israelites’ crossing the Red Sea. The first time we read the story, we thought that it was an extraordinary event. It was a tremendous thing for so many people to cross the Red Sea at one time! Yet what did the Israelites say? The Bible does not record that they exclaimed, “What a wonder! The sea is about to divide itself!”, while they were still on the [Egyptian] side of the sea. Nor did they say, “Behold, what a miracle!” Only after they arrived at the other side did they begin to make a song and sing. They realized that it was a great miracle only as they looked back. The same is true with believers today. While God is performing a miracle for them, they do not realize that it is a miracle. Only when they look back do they realize that they have experienced a miracle. Brothers and sisters, consider the many times that you were sick and God healed you. Did you feel something extraordinary at the time you were healed? No. When you encountered difficulties and God delivered you, were you conscious that something momentous had occurred at the time of His deliverance? No. Only when you looked back did you realize that great things had happened. Even the looking back is spontaneous; one does not look back consciously.
Some have misunderstood the words in Mark 16:17-18. They look at these two verses with human eyes and consider them as something extraordinary. But brothers and sisters, once we consider God, we will not feel that there is anything extraordinary about them. These are very small acts compared with the Israelites’ crossing the Red Sea. Does this mean that a believer can take poison every day and not die? No. If a man purposefully tries to take poison, he will surely die. These verses tell us that if we know what kind of God He is and the power of God, we will realize that there is nothing He cannot do. Miracles are not the result of a strenuous exercise of man’s faith. Miracles are the manifestation of the power of God. God is the only One who does wondrous things; when He works, we have miracles. Once God moves His hand, we no longer feel that miracles are a difficult thing. The trouble today is that man views miracles from a distance that is far from God; therefore, miracles are regarded as something spectacular. Those who are near God realize that miracles are a common thing in the house of God.
There was a girl who lived by the sea and whose relatives were fishers. Later she married a man from the mountains. The mountain people were secluded and much poorer; they had a meager living. One day her father-in-law became very angry with her, and he condemned her for not being thrifty and for squandering the household goods because she ate one crab within three days. He angrily went to his in-laws, who invited him to stay for supper. He saw many dishes of crab at the table, and when he looked at the porch, countless crab shells could be seen. When he saw this, he decided not to complain anymore and returned home. Many people value miracles in the same way that the father-in-law valued crabs. They experience a miracle once every ten or thirty years. Therefore, they consider a miracle as a rare thing. But those who live before God consider miracles to be an ordinary thing. God’s hand is the source of the miracles, and God Himself is constantly performing miracles.
Four
Hence, there is no need for anyone to struggle to perform miracles. When God’s power is manifested in us, there are miracles. Paul was bitten by a viper, and he shook it off into the fire (Acts 28:3-5). How did Paul perform that miracle? He did not tell the men of the island of Malta, “Come and see me perform a great miracle for you.” He shook the snake into the fire without any fanfare. There was no promotion of any kind. Only those who do not know God promote miracles; those who know God do not promote miracles. (This does not mean that those who do not promote miracles know God. Some do not believe in God or miracles.) Those who know God do not promote miracles because miracles are spontaneous things for them. Brothers and sisters, when God answers your prayer and you feel that you have done something marvelous, it proves that your faith is very immature. If you really believe in the power of God, you will find Him answering your prayers and performing miracles without even being conscious of it. Under such circumstances, miracles are spontaneous. There is no need for any struggle, and they will not be extraordinary.
We must realize that miracles are not performed in a conscious way. If we feel that we are performing miracles, we have failed already. In other words, when we set our mind to perform miracles, they will be far from us. This is like setting our mind to do good; we discover that we cannot. When we live in the presence of God and believe in Him, there will be miracles spontaneously. The miracle of not being hurt by the viper was done without Paul’s even noticing it. If others asked him to do the same thing again, he might not be able to repeat it. If someone asked us to repeat what Paul did, we could not do it either. We cannot imitate others, and we cannot reenact our own experience. We are touching a very important principle of the Christian experience. In our Christian experience, God’s answer to our prayer and His miracles follow one basic principle — everything is spontaneous, and everything is done without our awareness. In the beginning, we may think that we had much strength and great faith. But as we go on and learn more, we will no longer feel the same way. To some degree, we will not even know how we believed. We simply commit things into God’s hand, and things are done spontaneously.
Five
In Paul we see many miracles and works of wonders. Yet Paul said of himself, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling” (1 Cor. 2:3). God is willing to work through man. But He is not willing to allow man to become conscious of what he can do. Only those who do not know God say that they can do this and that. Those who genuinely know God say that they do not know what they can do. A man whom God truly uses will not feel that he can do this or that. Whatever he has done is behind him. Thank God, His power is so great that He can do everything Himself. We do not have to do anything. The more we go on as a Christian, the simpler we become. Those who become complicated are wrong. The more we know God, the simpler we become. We are just what we are. Even our believing will not be as strenuous as before. Day by day as we live before the Lord, we will become simpler and simpler. We will say genuinely from our heart that everything is of God and not of us. Brothers and sisters, if we truly know God, we will know that all of His work in us is spontaneous.