Last Sunday we talked about “The Mighty God,” and the power of God to work in our lives. One family in our church experienced this reality recently. Their granddaughter, a sophomore in college, contracted a virus and suffered an unexplainable and scary condition. She woke up one morning and had lost her eyesight. Doctors couldn’t explain why, but after many unsuccessful treatments, they began to prepare the family for the fact that her blindness could be permanent. The family did the one thing in their power to do, pray.
Then, just a few months ago a miracle occurred. Her eyesight started returning, not all at once but gradually. Now she has regained 20/20 vision in both eyes! As unexplainable as the blindness was, so is her healing. Unexplainable that is, unless you’re a person of faith. Now this family does the one thing in their power to do, give praise and credit to God.
In my daily Bible reading, I was struck by three phrases I read yesterday in Micah 7: “I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me;”(v7); “I(God) will show my wonders”(v15); and “Who is a God like you?”(v18). Of course, words like these and stories like I just shared seem almost cruel when our miracle hasn’t happened. Is it because something is wrong with us? Does God show favoritism? Or do we trust that “my God will hear me,” and allow that to be enough?
I read a story the other day about a young, athletic girl who lost the ability to walk. Her family said she never asked ‘why me,’ but instead, how? How could God use this reality in her life? That question gave her purpose, and that purpose kept her going.
In the end it seems we give credit for the unexplainable ways God’s power shows up when prayers are answered and look for God’s power to keep us going when our prayers aren’t.
As I said at the end of the 11:00 service last Sunday, the major theme of Advent is waiting, waiting for God. And one of my favorite quotes about waiting is this: “God calls us to wait so that we might find Who we wait for is as important as What we wait for.”