“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:16-17 NAS).
“For in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28 NKJV).
The writer of the book of Hebrews says:
“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word” (Heb. 1:3 NIV).
The French theologian Auguste Lecerf made this observation: “The constant relations which we call natural laws are simply ‘divine habits’: or, better, the habitual order which God imposes on nature. It is these habits, or this habitual process, which constitute the object of the natural and physical sciences.” God works according to a pattern. Creation works according to what has been described as a “great cosmic liturgy.”
What is a “miracle” then? A miracle is not God “breaking” the so-called “laws of nature.” A miracle is simply God doing something contrary to His normal pattern. It is an exception to His ordinary, usual way of doing things. It is not His “bursting” into His created order and acting, because He is always acting. He is the one who “moves” the sun across the heavens (or rotates the earth), at a consistent speed. This is His daily divine habit. But let’s say one day He decides to make the sun stand still, as He chose to do in Joshua’s day. Is He not simply deviating from His “normal routine?”
To quote Lecerf: “The miracle, in its form, is but a deviation from the habitual course of natural phenomena, provoked by the intervention of a new factor: an extraordinary volition of God. There is, thus, no violation of law, as scientifically defined, since every scientific law supposes this restriction, explicit or implicit: all things being equal in all respects.”
What this means is that we must toss out this traditional distinction between the natural and the supernatural. By the way, this distinction is rooted in Greek philosophy, not in Biblical thinking. The Biblical worldview is radically different and does not draw this natural/supernatural distinction. I suggest that we take the word “supernatural” out of our vocabulary, and begin to think and speak of God as He reveals Himself to be in the Scriptures. Romans 11:36 says, “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things.” The same God who “performs” miracles also brings about the everyday “mundane” things such as causing the grass to grow, sending the rain, etc., it’s all God in an intimate, personal way going about the directing of His creation.
As a minister of the gospel I am constantly looking for God to upset the “natural order of sinful humanity” and break into our lives with grace and mercy. Sin is rampant in every nation, culture and society. Yet, God continually does miracles and brings men and women to Himself. He heals their broken spirits and reconciles dysfunctional generational curses while bringing sobriety to the drunken and clarity to the confused.
At this time of international monetary worries, we need to be praying for God's grace and mercy as well as His miraculous interventions. It is for sure that we have no power to change things.
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