Are you listening?
OCTOBER 31, 2007 (WEDNESDAY) – Last Sunday in a sermon I mentioned the “barrel of meal and cruise of oil” (NIV: jar of flour and jug of oil) that was miraculously refilled every day.
I think I have my own version of stuff that never runs out. My can of shaving cream was still putting out stuff, but felt empty, so I bought a new can. That was 56 days ago, and this morning I got another handful from the old can. I don’t think it will ever run out. I probably should call a TV station and report my observation. It could be publicized like images of the Virgin Mary in a dirty window or Jesus in a teflon frying pan, both of which made the newspapers and TV news.
I can hear it now. The TV anchor gives the news, winding up with a story from the war or a terrorist act, then gives his segue, “Stay tuned. After these messages, ‘Aerosol Can is empty, but continues to produce shaving cream! The owner of the can is taking bids on this miraculous shaving cream can, which seems to be empty, after use, every day. The owner, a local Baptist pastor (you can trust preachers, right? Yeah, right), declares the sacred can delivers more, the next day.’”
Then, after the commercials, he returns with the news. “A local homiletician vows and declares it’s the truth: like the woman in the Bible who found new flour in a jar and new oil in a jug every day, he keeps getting shaving cream from an empty can. And he has done this for nearly two months! Stay tuned, friends, we’ll keep you posted each day on this modern day miracle reported to us by a man of the cloth.”
Stranger things have happened.
OK, please remove my tongue from my cheek and listen up. Some people are never satisfied with God unless He produces a miracle. I believe miracles happen, but they are rare. In fact, miracles didn’t happen every day in Bible times. They were rare then, too.
We want God to perform for us. We might say, “If God would write His message to me like a sky-writer used to do with Pepsi-Cola, I would go out every morning, read his message in the sky, and be satisfied.” Would you? Here’s what would happen: After everyone gets accustomed to God’s message in the sky each morning, the day finally comes when someone says to his friend, “Come on, let’s go outside and see what God is saying,” only to get the response, “Not today, I have a headache.” It would become commonplace and fully ignorable.
Fact is, that’s already happened. Many people know very well what God is saying to them in their hearts. They just choose to ignore it.