FAITH, MIRACLES, and TIMING

If you have true FAITH does the MIRACLE need to happen immediately in order to prove you have true faith?  Most of us would say, “No”  and you would be right.  But why?  The question needs to be asked and an answer should be thoughtfully given.

What does TIMING have to do with FAITH and MIRACLES?

The scriptures are full of stories showing FAITH and MIRACLES happening. Many of which seem to happen immediately.  But there are also stories, many of which are glossed over, which seem to show that the miracles do happen, but not immediately. 

We live in an age of instant gratification, of immediate, on-demand availability.  For my children who are of the Millennial generation, they have been taught differently than their peers, but the challenge is still real for them.  It creates impatience.  If we sit in the fast-food lane for more than five minutes, we begin to feel anxious and frustrated that the food is taking too long.  Why? 

As a people generally, we are even worse with God, we have no desire to “wait upon the Lord” – we want our request answered and we want it now!  That is NOT FAITH.

In Matthew 17:14-21 and Mark 9:17-29 there are two written accounts of the man who brings his son to Jesus who is possessed by a devil which Jesus’ disciples could not cast out.  After casting out the devil and curing the child, the Savior, in explaining the reason why they could not cast it out, shares some interesting insights:

“And Jesus said unto them, Because of your UNBELIEF: for verily I say unto you, If ye have FAITH as a grain of a mustard seed , ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.  Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by FASTING and PRAYER.”  (Matt. 17:20-21)

He said that it was because of UNBELIEF – which is a combination of lack of real FAITH and possibly mixed with false traditions which affected their ability to have FAITH sufficient to deal with the problem. He also gave them the solution – some problems won’t go away without FASTING and PRAYER.

However, what was astonishing to me in reading the accounts was that the account also says that after Jesus rebuked the devil and caused it to come out “the child was cured from that very hour.” (Matt 17:18)  Wait. What?  He wasn’t cured instantly?  Apparently.

Does that bother you?  Shouldn’t God speak and people be healed instantly?  I mean that certainly happened elsewhere, like when Jesus healed the man’s hand on the Sabbath to the anger of the Pharisee’s who then plotted how they could kill him.  Or the one about the woman who touched Jesus’ garment and was healed instantly.

Why wasn’t this boy healed “immediately”?

What? Did Jesus himself not have FAITH?  The idea is ludicrous.  He had all the FAITH in the world (if not more)!!!  So what was the problem?  It turns out, there is no problem, except in our own thinking about how God needs to respond to our FAITH.

Once we understand this, we can stay in FAITH like Abraham, 

“who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations” and “being not weak in FAITH…doubted not at the promise of God by unbelief; but was STRONG IN FAITH [and here’s a KEY…] giving glory to God…being fully persuaded that what [God] had promised, he was able to also perform.” (Romans 4:18-21)

It was 20 years from the time Abraham received the promise from God’s mouth before God fulfilled the promise of Isaac through Sarah.  20 years!  And we want everything immediately…or we throw a tantrum…or we say, “See God doesn’t answer prayers, or give me what I want.”

Back to the story…the boy was not healed immediately, but within the hour.  Can you have a little patience to “wait upon the Lord” for your miracle?

I have learned that God knows everything we need even before we ask (Matt. 6:8) but He also knows the perfect time to give the response or the miracle or the rescuing so as to build the most FAITH possible within us in Him (who is the “object of our FAITH”).  

Sometimes He saves us before being thrown in the fire [read: BEFORE].  Sometimes He saves us in the fire (Daniel 3) [read: DURING].  And sometimes He lets us go through the fire before saving/delivering us (Alma 14:8-11) [read: AFTER]. 

When the Elohim (the Gods) were creating the earth, we read something very interesting.  In five places, in Abraham 4 it says that the Gods ordered [read: commanded] something to happen – like separating the light from darkness, creating the earth, bringing forth life from seeds, etc.  But then it says something very interesting in verses 10, 12, 18, 21, and 25.  It says, “the Gods saw that they were obeyed.”  But an interesting tidbit, in verse 18 it says:

 “And the Gods watched those things which they had ordered UNTIL THEY OBEYED.”

And verse 21 says, “And the Gods saw that they WOULD BE OBEYED…”

Wait. What?!  Doesn’t EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE HAVE TO OBEY God…immediately?  Apparently God respects agency so much, He even allows the elements to choose whether they will obey Him and He gives them time to decide to obey Him. There is NO force, NO coercion from God…ever.

Why? Because it is in His heart to be good, to do good, and to bless His creations.  We just need to get past the lie that He needs to do things on our timeframe.  The matter in question is NOT whether God has FAITH, but do you?  You are in question.

Seek the Blessor in FAITH, not just the blessing…

and the MIRACLE will surely follow at the TIME He sees fit to have it happen.