Miracles are Boring

Luke apparently didn't think that it was important to tell us that Jesus spoke to the man and the mother-in-law; he was too busy telling us about the Jesus who speaks to demons and fevers. But as we saw yesterday, the thing that sets our God apart from all of the other gods of the world is that He has been, from the very beginning, a God who speaks with us. And if that's what sets Him apart, then that's the witness that we need to hear. 

The truth is...miracles are boring. They are. If we had to spend our entire lives of faith, let alone all eternity, watching God manipulate the factors of the universe, we'd lose interest pretty fast. I know I would. And worse than that, we'd lose the heart of God. 

Think about some of the other gods. There have been cultures throughout history who have had a separate god for just about everything. A god, for example, who only controls thunderstorms. And they have had altars to these gods! But the only interaction they ever had with this god was when a thunderstorm arrived. Then, they knew the god was angry. That was it. There was a god somewhere in the heavens who controlled thunderstorms, and the only way the people had to know he existed was when he got angry and sent them a thunderstorm. 

Likewise, they had a god for, say, fertility or crop-growing. And they had a shrine to this god in their house, as well. But the only interaction they ever had with this god was when their crops grew. They knew this god was happy when they had good crops. That was the only relationship they ever had with him. 

That gets pretty boring after awhile. If the only thing your god ever does is thunderstorms, it doesn't take long for thunderstorms to become fairly boring. "Oh, my god's just up to his thing again. Whatever." If the only thing your god ever does is grow your crops, it doesn't take long before you start to take your crops for granted. After all, that's just what your god does. 

If the only thing your god ever does is miracles, it just doesn't take long before you lose interest in that god. Every miracle you encounter is just your god doing what your god does, and it's not spectacular any more. 

If we're being honest, I'd get tired of miracles pretty quickly. But I also think I could sit and listen to God talk forever. He doesn't even have to be talking to me. Just talking. 

I would never get tired of hearing how my God's heart sounds. I would never get tired of hearing mercy and grace spoken over those that He loves. I would never get tired of hearing Him speak love. I would never get tired of hearing Him laugh or share in the joy of His people. This is the heart of our God, and it is expressed in His speaking with us. And that is such a unique, intimate, personal, blessed experience that it's always dynamic. And because it's always dynamic, it never gets boring. 

And this is why we need to hear about Jesus speaking to the man and the mother-in-law. This is why we need to hear about Jesus speaking to anyone, to everyone. And it's not just from Luke that we need to hear it....