Actual disaster footage. Viewer discretion advised.
A doctor friend of mine said there’s an inside joke that “if you put two bones alone in a room together, they’ll find each other.” I heard this after breaking my left collarbone in the summer of 2011. Even when I was young, I wasn’t a great athlete, but I did always hustle. So after a decade of not doing much athletically, I joined my work softball league and thought at least I would try hard and have fun. But when I hit a weak ground ball to the shortstop and decided to “hustle,” disaster saw its opportunity. The fields we played on were poorly maintained, with holes where the hitters stand. Instead of doing the smart thing and stopping after I tripped in this hole, I tried to keep running (because hustle!) and soon ended up falling hard on my shoulder with a loud snapping sound. The picture above is my actual X-ray from that night.
This isn’t a great memory, but it’s also a reminder of the miracle of healing. I had the option of surgery or just letting it grow back together, and I chose letting it heal. However, it didn’t “just” get fixed. It was by design and no accident.
My collarbone was broken clean through, with the two sides of the bone not even touching any more. I could feel them moving around independently. When I think about the millions of “decisions” the cells in these bones, interacting with the tissue around them, had to make to do something they’ve never done before, I have to be convinced something beyond my own anatomy and genetic history was at work. An impersonal evolution may have never seen these bones break in just this way before, so how did the bones know what to do? I certainly wasn’t aware of telling these bones what to do. They didn’t “just” fix themselves.
I can only credit the creative power of my Maker, along with David, who wrote: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” – Psalm 139:13-14
Everyday Miracles Miracles happen every single day in every human body, yet we often miss them or refuse to call them miracles. Maybe we do that because calling them miracles would mean we have to give credit to the power behind the miracle, and we’d rather not. Ever since Adam and Eve looked at God’s good creation and decided they’d rather make their own decisions, mankind has persisted in acting like bones that would rather grow apart than follow their Creator’s design. As a result, the world is broken into billions of personalities that don’t know how to connect, that don’t know how to knit agape love into the trillions of decisions they make, and interactions they have, each day.
We all have a choice in every moment: do we “just” do whatever we think is best and expect the right outcome to “just” happen, or do we look at nature and think that maybe the Person who knows how to make bones fix themselves knows how to guide our lives to the best outcome.
Our heavenly Father wants to knit us together once again, in a world that isn’t broken and where we aren’t broken. None of us are beyond repair, and our Maker will restore us if we let Him. Every human being in history has been bad at love, except One, and He is calling to every one of us to trust Him. “Just Do It” is not a good motto.
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.” – Psalm 34:19-20
In Mark’s Gospel, he tells a story of Jesus taking a nap, causing His disciples to panic. Does it ever seem like God is asleep, leaving you feeling adrift amid the world’s circumstances? When Jesus walked the earth, there were times when God literally was asleep.
The story comes from Mark 4:35-41.
On that day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
At the beginning of the story, Jesus told His disciples they were going to cross the Sea of Galilee, then knowing what was coming, “He who keeps Israel”[1] took a nap. Had the disciples understood Jesus, His napping should have reassured them that they were safe, since He was not concerned about the storm. Instead, they thought He didn’t care, which showed that fear of the storm had overcome whatever faith they had. Jesus said they were going across, but they doubted.
Which brings up a very important question.
When did the wind and the sea obey Jesus? At the beginning of the story, at the end, or both? Or at all times? Before Jesus calmed the storm, was the sea being disobedient to God’s laws and will?
I believe Jesus calmed this storm so that next time He wouldn’t have to. He was teaching them that He always cares, regardless of what the circumstances seem to say. He was teaching them that even when it seems like He’s asleep, He is still in control of our circumstances no matter how chaotic they look and feel to us. During the next storm, He wanted them not to panic, but to trust Him because He showed them no circumstance escapes His notice. The storm does not control us; He controls the storm.
When Jesus calmed the storm, He did not create a hedge (See Job 1:10) around His disciples, He just demonstrated that it existed all along. God was not going to let His Son drown before His mission was complete and neither will He let His other children drown before their work is done!
Sometimes when God seems distant and we feel we are sinking, in reality we are being given a divinely designed opportunity to learn to trust that:
The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore[2]
He knows sometimes we have to learn the hard way, and He knows best. Even when He is sleeping.
Have you ever heard a voice from heaven? If you did, how would you know to believe it?
In John 12:28 Jesus said in front of a crowd of people: “Father, glorify Your name. Then a voice came from heaven, saying “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”
When this voice spoke, the hearers still had to decide whether or not to believe it. Not everyone on the scene had faith that this voice was actually God. Not everyone who heard it and thought it was God decided that this God deserved their obedience, even though these people were eyewitnesses to a supernatural event that many today would be thrilled to see, to “prove” God’s existence.
Suppose someone on the scene looked up at the sky and said: “Who do you think you are? I don’t know who this ‘Jesus’ guy is, and I sure don’t know who you are – why should I follow you?” Perhaps the voice from heaven responds with a bolt of lightning, and this poor man is now a dead smoldering heap.
Now, the man next to this one could be thinking: “I really should follow this Jesus person, because if I don’t, the next bolt could be for me.” This is rational, solid reasoning. But reason is not the same as faith. This man’s other response could be: “Jesus really is the Son of God and deserves my loyalty. I’m grateful that He is willing to accept me as I am.” Did the lightning really provide convincing evidence of this? Are there still other alternatives? Could the voice be interpreted as some other deity trying to gain followers? Perhaps, so therefore this second response is more like faith than reason.
So, even faced with overwhelming evidence, “reason” does not power a decision to truly make a decision, “faith” does. Reason can lead a horse to water, but it can’t make him drink. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8)
In addition, claims contrary to Christianity require a supernatural faith (albeit one without a source), and here are two examples
1) “There is no God” – Some say that if he exists, he should show himself. Of course, as we have seen, even those who claimed to know Jesus Himself and witness his miracles say this would not convince a skeptic who decided not to believe. Also, how does one prove God does not exist? Europeans used to believe there was no such thing as a black swan because they had never seen one – until they traveled more of the world. They could never prove that black swans did not exist, but they could (and did) believe it. To prove it, they would have to be personally present in all parts of the universe at all times simultaneously – in essence, they would need to be God to prove that all swans were white. “There is no God” cannot be proven by reason, but a skeptic can claim that they have not witnessed God in their experience, and that they have faith that God does not exist outside their experience.
2) “Man is the result of purely natural processes” – If “natural” is that which science has explained, and “supernatural” is everything else, it turns out that this is a claim about the supernatural, not a claim that there is no supernatural. If you change “observed” to “observable” in Merriam-Webster’s definition of “supernatural” (“of or relating to an order of existence beyond the visible observable universe”), you see this distinction. Merriam-Webster takes for granted that all things “supernatural” will become “natural” through scientific advancement in the way the current majority thinks they will. The consensus in Galileo’s day was that everything revolved around the earth – but the consensus was proved wrong. Proving that man is purely natural requires that the current thinking on evolution is correct, and faith that nothing outside of current knowledge could ever possibly over-turn it.
However, in the words of G.K. Chesterton, “Science knows nothing whatever about pre-historic man; for the excellent reason that he is pre-historic.” The “evidence” for one species changing into another is based on deductions from historical fossils, not on eyewitness accounts. While man has observed species mutate and acquire new traits, we have not yet seen a monkey (or anything else) mutating into a man. Regardless, theories of human evolution make a lot of claims about the history of mutations across species. It takes the observed changes within a species, and assumes that over millennia these mutations lead to one species changing into another, then another… It also claims that future evidence will inevitably support current evidence, in spite of the fact that evidence for evolution has been overturned repeatedly in history. Even in my own experience, what I was taught in middle school was different than what I was taught in college about evolution. If the historical track record is not that good, why have faith that the future track record will be perfect? Evolutionists refer to the process of discovery by trial and error consistently as “progress”, but is it always? Unless you already know beyond any shadow of doubt what you are progressing toward, how do you know you are progressing?
I’m not claiming to have dis-proved evolution here, but only to show that to prove it beyond a shadow of any possible doubt is beyond the power of reason. It’s another black swan.
Claims that there is no supernatural, are claims about the supernatural. These claims would require supernatural means to prove. They require seeing the future and the past, therefore, to believe a supernatural claim without supernatural evidence requires faith. It is beyond reason and proof. To me, the evidence and the logic do not live up to the claims they want to support.
Claims that there is no supernatural, are claims about the supernatural.
All people have faith – just in different things. Materialists fail to explain how man, as a mere complex set of materials and chemical reactions, consciously and intentionally goes about his life pondering deep thoughts about the origin of himself, while an earthworm does not bother. Christians – even the authors of the Bible – fail to explain how some consciously and intentionally choose faith when presented with miracles, while others do not.
There will always be such a thing as the “supernatural”. All people speculate about what’s out there in that realm of knowledge we can’t reproduce in a lab. Many people have dogmas about what’s in that realm – evolutionists believe that everything they do not understand yet will confirm that there is no God; religious people believe that there is enough evidence in the world we’ve already observed to warrant the possibility of a God.
On the one hand, you have the supernatural claims of natural men, claiming two things: 1) that they (and you) are the accidental result of millennia of chemical mutations, and that these chemicals follow rules that they do not know the origins of (yet); and 2) that the chemicals in their brain “believe” without a doubt that they can predict that what they do not know will confirm what they currently know and believe. This future evidence will prove their current belief, which was itself the result of a chain of accidental chemical reactions (but apparently under the purposeful control of some unknown thing that seeks to convince you of your mere natural chemicalness).
On the other hand, there is a written record of a man who claimed to be from that supernatural realm, who sees the future and the past, who knew there were black swans. How many there were. Where they were. And that the Europeans would eventually find them. This man asked for your belief – which set of claims is more reasonable?
“Come near to God and he will come near to you” – James 4:8
During the Old Testament book of Daniel, God’s people were in exile in Babylon, and a group of Babylonian officials really wanted to make a point. They wanted to do this so badly, that it’s recorded several times in just a few verses of the book of Daniel, chapter 6:
Verse 8: “Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” Verse 12: “Then they came near and said before the king, concerning the injunction, “O king! Did you not sign an injunction, that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?” The king answered and said, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.” Verse 15: “Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.” Verse 17: “And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.” [bold emphasis mine]
What provoked them to insist on this law that “cannot be revoked”?
They decided Daniel (of the book’s name) needed to be persecuted for successfully contributing to the welfare of Babylon, while humbly giving God the glory for all his gifts, abilities, and success. He was making them, and their gods, look bad. It is remarkably similar to the reasons Jesus saw opposition. Daniel, a Jewish exile, was about to get a big promotion and they wanted to sabotage it. Knowing Daniel openly prayed three times a day, the officials conspired and convinced the king to sign a law “that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.” (Verse 7). Either Daniel gives glory to Babylon, or he dies. Forcing Daniel to change his worship would prove that an unjust law was more important to him than his God.
What did Daniel do in response? Nothing new. He continued his standard practice of worship, praying in front of his open windows, probably including prayers for the welfare of Babylon[1]. Verse 10 says Daniel acted “as he had done previously,” which indicates he wasn’t snubbing his nose at his government or its new rule. His faithfulness was more important to him than an unjust law, even when he didn’t know God would deliver him from the lions. Daniel didn’t just come to God when he thought he needed God; he knew he needed God at all times.
Therefore, when the officials were provoked, it was an outcome of Daniel’s success and prayer, not Daniel’s intent. Basic, consistent faithfulness to a higher power can sometimes irritate people, especially lower powers who think their rule “cannot be revoked,” even when it’s not very effective.
Following the law, the king had Daniel thrown into the den of lions, but “God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths.” Daniel said he was saved because he had faithfully served his God and the king (verse 22), not because he was a provocative protester.
Seeing Daniel delivered by God, King Darius tore up the law that “cannot be revoked,” but even if Daniel had not been rescued from the lions, the laws would still have been revoked. The kingdom of the Medes and Persians no longer exists. Likewise at the end of time every law of every Babylon will be no more. However, God’s promise of blessing for all who will worship Him and seek His will still stands. On this promise Daniel stood, or rather, kneeled, and served his God and his countrymen, even in exile.
The law of loving service to neighbor will never be revoked, wherever and whenever you live, and even in heaven! In the words of G.K. Chesterton, “Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her.”[2]
[1] Jeremiah 29:7 says: “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare,” referring to Babylon. [2] Chesterton, G.K. Orthodoxy (1908). P. 103.
Yesterday I posted about Psalm 36:8, where David thanks God that His people may “drink from the river of your delights.” Since the word for “delights” is the plural of Eden, these occasional sips God provides us point to a past and future paradise. These delights strengthen our hope of heaven and strengthen us to live in this world for Him. Jesus provided such a moment for His disciples in the event known as the Transfiguration, when Jesus took His disciples Peter, James, and John up a mountain for a vision of His future glory. Matthew records in his gospel that Jesus “was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.”[1]
Moses and Elijah also appeared and spoke with Jesus, perhaps representing the law and the prophets of the Old Testament and how it all pointed to Jesus. Peter wanted to make this moment last, and offered to “make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”[2] But it was not intended to last long, yet.
The Transfiguration was a preview of heaven, a sneak peek into what eternity will be like, a promise of future blessing under Jesus, the glorified King. The fulfillment of everything the law and prophets hinted at will be realized. However, Moses and Elijah soon disappeared, Jesus and His disciples descended from the mountain, and the disciples very soon struggled as we all do, but they persevered as we also must. Pray that God will make eternity real to His people today, even if for only a moment, giving a “drink from the river of your delights” and strengthen us to live for Him.
