We’re not used to considering ourselves as the stumbling block. It seems unnatural for us to think that we may be in the way of God doing His work in or through us. After all, He has all the power. If something doesn’t come to pass then it probably has to do with Him, not with me. What if God does want to do something but we just don’t give Him a chance?
For quite some time I’ve been looking at various miracles recorded in the bible, trying to find a common thread that runs through them. Whether it is something God did in the Old Testament or a miracle from the New – I’ve noticed a very simple, yet lifestyle changing commonality:
Things happened when the people were vulnerable and had faith.
Whether it is Moses parting the Red Sea because there simply wasn’t another way out or people receiving sight and the ability to walk as the hands of Jesus touched them, the miracles we read about seem to be a result of the person(s) realizing and admitting that he is in need and having the faith to turn to God.
Yes, perhaps it was much easier back then. Technology wasn’t as advanced, the medicine available to the masses was far from what we have today and people might not have been as convinced in their ability to take care of their own lives. Today it has almost become a reflex to turn to these things or ourselves when we’re in trouble. Not that we shouldn’t ever, but we ought to at least turn to God first and see where He’ll take us.
How are we ever going to give God a chance if we rush to do everything ourselves or lack the faith that He is in fact more than capable of delivering? We won’t and I dare to say that on daily basis – we don’t. We need to be more like blind Bartimaeus – not stopping before anything until we are standing with our request before God, knowing that once we ask He will provide. In the small things, as well as in the big.
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