Sometimes I hear myself saying the strangest things. Take, for example, those occasions when I have said to someone, perhaps after hearing about a challenge they recently faced, ‘I hope everything went well for you in the end.’ What I really mean is that I hope this person is doing okay now—surely hoping some past event went well is a little pointless, apart from any empathy we may express in the process? The moment has gone, and all the hope we can muster will not change what happened back then.
Recently, while walking to my car, I saw a man nearby wearing the jersey of a particular football team. As he stood chatting to another man, I heard him say: ‘Well, we believe in miracles!’
Initially, I thought to myself, ‘Oh, that’s so wonderful—this man believes in miracles!’ But then his next sentence made it clear what he really meant.
‘Oh, with a little bit of luck we might get there!’ he declared.
I realised then that he must be talking about an upcoming football match and his apparent doubt that his team would actually win! But the more I thought about it all, the more I began to wonder if he had expressed my own strange thinking at times. Yes, I believe God can do miracles. I have experienced them myself and observed them unfold in the lives of others. I have read in Scripture how Jesus performed so many amazing miracles and how God raised him from the dead. On top of that, I see miracles each day in the beauty and intricacy of nature all around me. Yet, to my shame, sometimes I suspect my prayers for God to bring healing to someone or rescue someone from a difficult situation can be more like a wish that luck might be on their side than a fervent faith-filled plea to God on their behalf.
There is a big difference between the two, don’t you think? When we pray, we are talking with and to the all-loving, all-knowing, all-powerful God of the universe. Our God is personal and alive. And our God is able to heal and renew. Sometimes, that may happen supernaturally but at other times through the care of others, including the medical profession. And our God is able to reach out and rescue us in love too—or give us the strength to walk through our struggles and comfort us deeply in the process. On the other hand, relying on luck involves nothing more than believing in or appealing to impersonal, random forces, without knowing whether they will be on our side or not. All we can do in this case is hope for the best.
Years ago, there was a book around with the title Your God is Too Small, a title which still challenges me today. How often have I lost sight of who God really is? How often have I taken my gaze off God and, instead, trusted in some vague kind of luck? Instead, may you and I raise our sights, enlarge our vision, know our amazing God is on our side and rest daily in God’s loving grace, mercy and provision for us.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my trust. Psalm 130:5
Jo-Anne Berthelsen's Blog 
I am so with you on this one, Jo-Anne.
Last night I kept waking up, each time thinking of a dear Christian author friend who is suffering from both chronic pain and an added complication at the moment, and each time pleading with Father God to minister immediate and complete healing relief. My heart anguished again at how hard it is to pray and still believe when healing remains illusive. I can see by your words I am not alone.
Yet, even as I read your words, ‘may you and I raise our sights, enlarge our vision’, I pictured that ‘mustard seed’ of faith that Jesus spoke about in Mathew 17:20 as he reminded me that a seed is created to grow into something much larger, a majestic tree that raises it’s branches towards the sky, that enlarges and spreads it’s shade over a wide area. Then I pictured him placing that tiny seed into my open hand, saying ‘believe and receive’, a reminder of his words in Mark 11:24. So, at your prompting and his, I’m choosing to not only receive that seed of faith, but to plant it in the fertile soil of his utter faithfulness, and water it with his Word, so that it takes root and grows into an unshakable tree.
Love and thanks, Mazzy.
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Hi Mazzy. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my blog above. You write so well and I could certainly feel your heart of compassion for your writer friend as you endeavour to pray for them. And what beautiful images too of that mustard seed growing into a huge tree and of God placing that seed in your hand–thank you. I particularly love your whole last sentence too–so powerful and life-giving. Keep writing–and praying!