the miracle of the universe is the character of God

The Word for today:
1 Kings 9:1 -- 10:13

mark these:
1 Kings 9:1-2 --
When Solomon had finished building the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, the LORD appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

Matthew 12:39-42 --
A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.

The Bible, like any book, can compress time. A quick reader could read from cover to cover in 100 hours or so, but untold thousands of years are "covered" by the Bible.

This can leave us with the sense that every time Bible characters turned around, there was some fresh revelation from the LORD. It can make it seem that miracles are occurring one after the other.

But that is not the case, and in 1 Kings we are given an example of the Bible's compression of time. The first time the LORD spoke to Solomon was in Gibeon. You can read about it in 1 Kings 3:5. The second time God speaks to Solomon is in 1 Kings 9:
When Solomon had finished building the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, the LORD appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

Let's say you were "Standing in the Rain" faithfully, until last week--a week that was so hectic you missed 5 days of reading. So, catching up today, you read from 1 Kings chapter 3 to 1 Kings chapter 10. Now you are back on schedule.

But reading those few chapters gives you the sense that God spoke to Solomon quite frequently, when actually there were 20 years between the first time and the second time God spoke to him.

There can be great spans of time between the LORD's apparent dealings with us. It is spiritually dangerous to think that we will experience revelations or miraculous circumstances at every turn.

Reading the book of Acts, for example, might take us 3 hours. We will read of miracles which seem to happen daily, until we remember that the book of Acts covers thirty-eight years.

God is teaching us to live by faith, not by sight (1). Visions and revelations and visitations and miracles are in the realm of sight, not faith. If we were to have daily visions and miracles, we would not learn to trust his goodness, his faithfulness, his heart, his promises, his integrity--his character. Instead we'd learn to trust miracles, not Him.

So for those of you who don't see visions or hear God's voice, I want you to hear this very carefully: you are never to think that people who say they see and hear such things have a superior relationship with God (2).

Pharaoh saw many miracles and did not trust God. The disciples saw many miracles, but they deserted Jesus in his time of need.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (3). There isn't a miracle or a revelation or an experience or a vision in that sentence. There's just God, and his Word.

The miracle of the universe is the character of God.

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(1) 2 Corinthians 5:7; (2) Matthew 12:39; (3) Romans 10:17