Afraid of Miracles

I was astounded when I read this story in the Book of Exodus, Chapter 4:1-5 and it says - But Moses protested again, "What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, "The Lord never appeared to you?" Then the Lord asked him, "What is that in your hand?" "A shepherd's staff," Moses replied. "Throw it down on the ground," the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back. Then the Lord told him, "Reach out and grab its tail." So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd's staff in his hand. "Perform this sign," the Lord told him. "Then they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—really has appeared to you."

I am so impressed about how often we pray to God for miracles, and then we easily become frightened when things begin to happen - and those things happening don’t look at all like the miracles we expected and prayed for.

Here was Moses, complaining before God about not having any assurances, or any proof of His existence to go before the Egyptians and speak on His behalf. Moses asks God, "What if they don’t believe me? What if they don’t listen to me? What if they say that you never appeared to me?" So what did God do? Well, He tried to satisfy Moses' concern, He asked him, "What is that in your hand?" Moses said, "a shepherd’s staff." And then, with the staff on the ground, God transformed it into a snake. The story says that Moses jumped back when he saw the snake; in some Spanish versions it reads that, "Moses ran away."

Here was Moses pleading for a miracle, pleading for help and understanding from God, and when God wanted to help him fulfill his mission, he became frightened by what he saw.

How often do we  do exactly the same? How often do we pray to God for miracles or for help in a particular situation, but soon after things appear to be actually getting worse (the snake), we begin to run. We are praying for money and we lose our jobs. We are praying for healing, and then another member of the family becomes ill. Rather than trying to see God at work in the circumstances, we quickly take off running to the neighbors' or to a lender or to share or sorrows with someone else. 

This is what often happens to us; God performs miracles in our daily lives, but we have problems accepting them as such, because we don't make any efforts to look beyond the appearance of things. We are too focused on our own needs and wants and miss the bigger picture. God is interested in using every opportunity as a teaching moment, as a life-changing lesson. How could we possibly think there's a miracle in being fired from a job, or being locked out of our apartment, or losing a close friend? Those are most likely not the miracles we are expecting, but they are part of a divine process that God will take us through on our way to victory. The road to the Promised Land runs through the desert.

Written by Lt. Giovanni E. Romero
Union City Corps