The Necessary Scarcity of Miracles

As I enter this time of prayer, I repeat the words of Psalm 119:76–77, slowly, several times, making them my prayer to God:

‘May your unfailing love be my comfort,

according to your promise to your servant.

Let your compassion come to me that I may live,

for your law is my delight.’

Pause and repeat

Pause and read the passage Ps. 139:13–17

I quote C. S. Lewis saying something we may not want to hear: ‘That God can and does, on occasions, modify the behaviour of matter and produce what we call miracles is part of Christian faith; but the very conception of a common, and therefore stable, world demands that these occasions should be extremely rare’*,**

Does this assertion that miracles have to be ‘extremely rare’ match up with my experience? Does it echo what I’ve been taught? Does it help me find a little more peace with my situation?

Pause and reflect

I take time now to marvel at the infinite complexity and intricate beauty of the world around me, giving thanks especially for the harmony of creation.

Pause and pray

As I bring this time with God to a close, I pray a prayer of wonder and humility from Psalm 8:1, 3–4:

LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory in the heavens …

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

Amen

* C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), 25.

** Pete Greig, God on Mute, David C Cook, (Colorado Springs, 2020), p127