Where are the miracles?

In Judges 6, the people of God were overrun by a kingdom of darkness known as the Midianites. They were destroying the inheritance of the children of Israel. Once the Midianites invaded, other forces of darkness such as the Amalekites soon joined in and Israel was defeated, impoverished, helpless, and hopeless. Rather than calling out to God, however, the israelites slowly learned to adapt and adjust to their plight. They hid in caves and sowed and cultivated their crops as best they could. Learning to adapt to their situation, however, only made things worse. God’s people cannot make a peace treaty with their enemies because the kings of darkness will break every promise and eventually bring total destruction.

Too many Christians today have learned to adapt to the demands of all that opposes the will and way of God. Far too often as we watch the unholy trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil steal our inheritance and take control of our lives, our finances, our families, our health, our emotions, and our futures, we have the attitude of helplessness and we find a cave in which to hide and hope to survive. We go to church week after week and do all of our religious works, but the principalities and powers of darkness continue to ravage our land and impose their agenda on individuals, cities, and nations.

After several years of death and destruction at the hands of the Midianites, finally the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. They began to pour out their hearts to God and let him know that they were not satisfied with the status quo. They began knocking on the door of heaven and did not stop knocking until God responded. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that the door is opened to the one who knocks and keeps on knocking. Those who are not desperate will continue to live in a state of slow decline.

In Judges 6:12 the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and told him, the Lord is with thee. I love Gideon’s response–it was bold and honest. If the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us, and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of? Much as his forefather Jacob had wrestled with the angel, Gideon poured out his complaint to the Lord. He seized this opportunity to represent his entire generation before the Lord by voicing his dissatisfaction with the status quo. Basically he was saying, God, we need your power. We cannot continue as we are. We want to see your miracles and your reality as did the generations of old. You did it for them; now do it for us! We must have more!

While many people today are satisfied to live in their cave and adapt to the changes that the powers of darkness are imposing on our society, there is a new generation that God is beginning to visit and to provoke their hearts to want something more. There is a new generation that is beginning to burn with a holy dissatisfaction. This generation is beginning to cry our for the power and reality of God to be manifested today. This generation will be the one that sees their enemies defeated and God’s kingdom order established in their lives, their cities, and their nations as it is in heaven. You can be part of that generation. Tell the Lord you want to see his miracles in your world today and you will be surprised at how quickly he will begin to answer your cry.