The Miracle Lottery

Lately I have been telling friends that praying for a miracle for my wife seems a lot like buying a lottery ticket.. and the chances of seeing a miracle seem to resemble those of winning Powerball.. one in a billion or so. I started thinking about this a bit and wondering about this kind of mentality.

People who regularly buy lottery tickets seem to be people who are looking for a quick fix.. they want to see results fast but don't want to put a lot of effort into getting results. I admit that is the way that I feel sometimes - life is very hard at times and I want a healing miracle.. and I want it NOW!

Maybe I need to pause a minute and talk about what I mean when I say miracle.. some folks attribute everything from coincidental happenings and ministry donations to the miraculous. Here is a definition that I resonate with:

An effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.

Now that I have got that one out of the way, I have to ask:

So what is wrong with wanting a miracle?

Probably nothing - unless it short circuits your life and hinders the forward progress of it. Often a desire for a miracle can be likened to a state of denial.. a way that the body copes with trauma or loss.. and it is okay for a season.. but when it is prolonged it becomes problematic because it prevents us from accepting our state of being and makes contentment very difficult.

Religious people will often use scripture to deny the reality of their situation. Some will use this verse which speaks of Abraham's faith:

He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. -Romans 4:17b

Folks in the Word of Faith sect will often use this verse to "confess" things that are not as though they were. They believe that one can confess unseen spiritual realities into seen realities. To be sure, I am not against such confessions as long as the Holy Spirit leads a person to do it. My experience is that most of such confessions is head-based and has little to do with the Spirit.

Back to the miracle lottery mentality. You might ask if I even believe in miracles and, in light of what I have written, is it wrong to pray for a miracle? The answers, of course, are yes I believe in miracles with all of my heart and I will continue to ask for them with all of my heart! What I will not do, however, is to live my life in anticipation of miracles. This may rub some wrong.. if it does please tell me what that kind of life looks like.

My heart is to live an overcoming life.. a life that does not require a miracle.. a life that says that I can overcome difficulty through grace. The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the Corinthians:

So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul inspires me.. and I can relate to begging prayers.. he inspires me to develop a different attitude.. one that doesn't need a miracle to be happy.. but of course I do still want one :)