Logic vs. Miracles

Miracles do not produce faith, but faith produces miracles. This maxim goes against our human instinct.

The Scriptures tell us that many people demanded a sign to authenticate the authority of Jesus of Nazareth. They claimed that if only they could see such a sign, they would they believe in Him. He replied, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks the LORD for a sign..." (Matthew 16:4)

The same principle is true of logic. Logic does not precede revelation, but follows it. When God works a miracle, we can usually put it into a fairly logical frame of reference after the fact, but we typically cannot ascertain the ways of God in advance using logic or any other mental faculty.

"...God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things that are strong..." -I Corinthians 1:27

The Bible is replete with examples of men whom God raised up, who were often not "qualified" for the tasks to which God called them. By faith and the hand of God, God's will was indeed done.

Let us look at the example of these men.

When God called Moses to deliver his people, Moses was an old man of eighty years. His own people, whom he hardly knew, had rejected him a generation earlier, and he had spent the last forty years in the desert, tending sheep. He knew practically nothing about the conditions that his people currently faced, and the present generation of his people didn't even know that he existed. The levers of power, which might have been available to him in his younger years, were long since gone. A leader of the people ought to be an inspiring speaker, but Moses wasn't. An earthly employer would not have given Moses a second look, but our Heavenly Father saw the greater picture.

Another example is David. David was the youngest of seven sons. There was nothing distinguished about David's family line, and his own background as a shepherd was hardly suitable training for a king. Once again, we see that God's ways are not man's ways.

The final example is the Twelve Apostles. According to worldly standards, the only one of the twelve who had any of what the world would call acceptable qualifications was Judas Iscariot. The other apostles were mostly uneducated fishermen, hardly the kind of people who could be expected to turn the world upside down. Their personal qualities were hardly more appealing. The Scriptures paint Peter as an abrasive and opinionated man. John and James had a major problem with their anger, and Matthew was a despised tax collector.

Jesus saw something in each of these men that nobody else saw. The Son of God was looking to the future and saw the apostles, not as they were, but as he knew His Father could make them. Jesus had insight into "the final product."

In all of the above examples, God gave no thought to outer appearance, quality of speech, or worldly importance. What matters to God is not the outer man, but the inner being; what lies in the heart. God knew the potential all these men had, as well as how they would come to thirst for truth and righteousness.

Logic and deduction will not reveal the ways of God to us because our Father's ways are of a heavenly and miraculous realm that knows no boundaries! Those things that are impossible to man are made possible through faith in God!

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Contributed by Melanie Schurr (Copyright (c)2003 Melanie Schurr) Melanie Schurr is author of "Ecstatic Living Ecstatic Loving: How to have more peace and joy in marriage, and life in general by walking in harmony with God," and "Son Salutations: A refreshing collection of modern inspirations for those who seek God each day." For more information, visit her web page at www.angelfire.com/mi/melschurr