“He has done it!” ends David’s psalm 22. The New American Standard Bible labels this Psalm: “A Cry of Anguish and a Song of Praise”. David accepted that all suffering is simply the path to the miraculous for those who are followers of Jesus. Nisa will be for us a miracle of new life. Our family in many ways is born again with the impending birth of this precious girl. This is an attribute of the miraculous. It brings rebirth to those it impacts. Our very transformation from beings steeped in sin and unacceptable in the presence of God to children of the living God and those who are guaranteed an eternity in His presence is perhaps the greatest miracle of all.
If one dares the term, lesser miracles also carry this sense of new beginnings. They are those points in our lives when our cries of anguish turn to songs of praise. They are intended to transform on a spiritual level not just impact our physical beings. It is this spiritual aspect of the miraculous that is so confusing to us. When we approach the miraculous as simply God impacting our earthly lives (perhaps as reward or even punishment) it fogs the very nature of the miracles. We become magicians searching for the “spells” or the correct formula of prayer (or behavior) that will manipulate God into acting the way that we conceive that he should. Paul was singing praises in prison not because he thought this would enable, encourage or force God to act on his behalf. He did it because he anticipated the miraculous in whatever form it would come. (Acts 16:25ff)
Right now I can only anticipate and imagine the incredible joy that I will feel when I hold Nisa in my arms. I am living in the confidence of Paul.
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6
Paul gives this statement as a basis for his ongoing joy. He anticipated the miraculous. Our ability to live out this type of anticipation is a function of the degree to which we embrace the initial miracle of our rebirth into the family of God and our ability to keep our spiritual eyes focused on Jesus. It is the understanding that the miraculous is not so much about our physical circumstances as our spiritual lives and our relationship with God. The miraculous operates within its own economy, one established and ordained by God. It is an economy that ensures joy for those who live by faith and anticipate the miraculous.
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