What Miracles Are For: One Year Bible Reading for July 11

 Today we read from these verses in the One Year Bible. 

1 Chronicles 11:1-12:18
Acts 28:1-31
Psalm 9:1-12
Proverbs 19:1-3

Let's look at Acts. We see that Paul has traveled to Malta, and the people there are nice to Paul and his companions. But you can imagine they were probably still not ready to hear that Jesus rose from the dead. But then Paul put some wood on the fire, and a snake in the wood came out and bit Paul on the hand. Now let's stop and think about that for a second. Paul was doing God's work, traveling to this island to share the gospel with these people. Couldn't God have prevented that snake from biting Paul? Yes, of course He could have. But He had a bigger plan. He kept Paul from suffering any ill effects from the bite, miraculously saving him from death (though, you might notice, not from pain.) And because of this miracle, the people of Malta were then in a position to hear about the miracle of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection.

Now let's think about miracles in general. God doesn't usually (in fact, sitting here thinking about it, I can't think of ANY times) do miracles just for no reason. Just to show off His power. He does miracles in response to a need. Usually in response to something that seems bad. Someone is sick. Someone dies. There is a storm at sea. The disciples have taken the boat across the lake and now Jesus has to get to them somehow. Miracles serve a PURPOSE. They are in response to our need, and they are given to increase our faith. Read this story of the Eucharistic miracle at Lanciano, Italy. This is a great example of God giving us a miracle in response to something "bad" (the priest's lack of faith) and to help ALL of us grow in our faith.

God, thanks for miracles. And thanks for helping our faith to grow, with or without them.