God is a God of miracles, there is no doubt about it. We've heard of healing that can't be explained by the doctors nor was expected, the spiritual healing that comes and changes a family for the better, and the delivering of people from their mental illnesses. My heart worships God for these things. Only he is able to do these miracles by his power alone. But for some, the miracle doesn't ever show up.

Why is it that some people are healed and delivered through miracles and others are seemingly left in the dust to work things out on their own?

I had this question my senior year of high school. I was going through something that I did not understand and that the miracle was too late for. I wanted so much to give up hope on God but I knew that the only way to get through my unbelief was to believe, believe that God knew what he was doing even though I did not understand or even agree with it.

Some people in the Bible also did not get the miracles that they needed/asked for. One example is Paul. He said, "even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). We see that Paul had asked God to deliver him three times yet God chose not too. God seems to not deliver him to show his grace, his power, and to keep Paul humble. While we do not know what Paul's thorn was, we do know he struggled with it. In our lives, we each have things that we have begged God to fix. Questions to ask when the miracle does not happen for you are, "How is God's grace shown through this? How is his power revealed? Is he trying to humble me?"

David is another example of a miracle not happening. In 2 Samuel 12, David and Bathsheba's first child died as a result of their affair. He fasted and prayed but God did not save his child (verse 16). He is seen worshipping God after hearing that his child died (verse 20). He knew that he could not do anything about his child's death now except look forward to seeing him again in heaven (verse 23). By worshipping God in the midst of his pain David shows his love and commitment to God. David also glorifies God by showing the people around him that God is still God and knows best even when we think we know better. A question you may want to ask in a similar circumstance is, "How can I glorify God within my pain?"

Lazarus is an example of a miracle happening but in an unexpected way. In John 11 Mary and Martha send word to Jesus that Lazarus is sick. Jesus finishes up what he is doing and goes to them but by the time he gets there Lazarus is already dead. Verse 21 says, "Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died." Martha knew the miracles Jesus could perform but she did not understand why he was not there to perform them. She was looking for a miracle of healing but Jesus performed a miracle in a different way. He rose Lazarus from the dead so he might be glorified and people might believe (verses 40-44). A question you may want to ask when something doesn't end up the way you thought it would is, "How can I share my story with people so others may believe?"

Miracles don't always happen. Miracles may come in a way you thought they wouldn't. The Bible has a ton of examples of miracles that we love talking about such as Abraham, Jonah, and Daniel. They show God's love, favor, and power. But Bible stories don't necessarily always end up in a "happy" way. It may seem that we are left in the dust, but God is an ever-present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1). He is always there for us and in tough times we should press into him just as David did. It's tough to understand God's purpose and the meaning in the hard times but that doesn't mean we should shy away from them and let them defeat us. Gods love is big and so are his plans. Our human minds cant fully wrap around God because we are sinful. While that is true, we should always strive to be more like Christ and do his will, even when that means praising him in our storms.