Partnering with God for Miracles — What it Means for Today’s Mission.
A miracle is defined as “a surprising and welcome event that is not explainable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency” (Oxford Languages). More often than not, we find ourselves at the tether-end of human knowledge and abilities. We struggle with our challenges and look for help outside of ourselves. Then we crave the miraculous.
Are you craving miracles? Here’s the secret, and how it works out.
God in the beginning established the template. He works in His universe through the agency of humankind created in His image and likeness. Genesis 1 says “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, including light and darkness - day and night; waters above the sky and waters below - the seas and oceans; He created the land, producing vegetation and seed-bearing plants, plus trees bearing fruits etc, etc.
After putting heaven and the earth in place (vv. 1-24), God, the Father said to the Son, and the Spirit, working in partnership: “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness”, so that they may rule over creation - the cosmos. God created humankind to relate physically to the created earth; He endows humankind with mental and physical abilities to tend and work on the planet. In partnership, God dictates the terms - His short, medium, and long-term goals, while humankind executes the plan. God is spirit working with the spirit-man in physical form. God the spirit, is invisible, while the spirit-man is visible in action. Satan, the adversary, outsmarting humankind, is sworn to draw a wedge between God and humanity - stealing, killing, and destroying. He succeeds in deceit and counterfeiting the path and process to fulfill God’s purposes for humankind and the earth.
In God’s long-term plan and fulfillment of His purpose for creation, it became necessary to send God the Son, in human form, to the earth. Jesus, the Son of God, became the Son of Man to bridge the gap created when deceived humankind disobeyed their creator in the Fall.
How Man Partners with God to Feed a Crowd of Five Thousand.
Mark 6: 30-44 gives an insight into the dynamics of the miraculous in the life of believers in Jesus. There always are challenges beyond human capacity. Think about it. Jesus and his disciples were out there in a remote, rural area spreading the good news of the kingdom. As Mark’s account has it,
“The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going they did not even have a chance to eat, Jesus said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away to a solitary place.”
Even so, the downtrodden will not let them alone. They pursued Jesus and his disciples to their getaway. Many who got wind of their movement, ran ahead from all the towns, waiting for them.
When Jesus landed, and saw a large crowd, “he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”
By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
It was a classic occasion for a miracle. Five thousand people from all the towns needed food. They were helpless - like sheep without a shepherd.
Jesus said to the disciples, “You give them something to eat.”
How often do we excuse ourselves from taking up the responsibility of taking care of the needy in our sphere of influence - ignoring or pushing them to others on account that we don’t have enough?
It would take a miracle for a group of itinerant missionaries of no permanent address, to feed five thousand hungry people from their lean wallet. The response of the disciples was predictable: “That would take more than half a year’s wages,” they complained to the master.
They did not have it, and if they did, they could not imagine spending so much of their resources to feed the crowd. They asked rhetorically, “Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?’ (v. 37).
What follows was a miracle - a partnership of God and mankind. God always uses what we have, multiplying our little to fulfill His purposes beyond our imaginations. Five loaves of bread and two fishes were all they had. And guess what? It was all Jesus needed to fulfill God’s purposes in the moment.
“Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heavens, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.” (And how was it?) “They all ate and were satisfied.” (vv. 39-42).
Only God in Jesus could divide five loaves of bread and two fish to feed five thousand hungry humans. That is a miracle - a partnership of humans and the divine in multiplying scarce resources made available for mission work.
Jesus did not act in a vacuum. He needed his disciples to make available what they had. He demands our time, talents, and financial resources, large and small. Above all, He demands our obedience to the commands, “You give them something to eat.”
The disciples laid the little they had at Jesus’ feet; the Lord blessed it, and the disciples shared it to the needy crowd.
How would you respond to the command to give the hungry something to eat? It is a call to the miraculous multiplication of our resources and circle of influence in God’s kingdom project.
