June 15 Grave Humor

II Kings 13:21 Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.

I know this passage has to do with the power God placed in Elisha's bones and prophecy, but it made me think of something much closer to us and, in some ways, of even greater personal application. A miracle occurred; a dead man came to life as he came into contact with the prophet's bones. Or was the man dead to begin with? Perhaps he appeared dead; his respirations had so slowed down as to look dead, and the blow of the fall was like someone pumping air into his lungs. The deep breath restored life. It has happened, or something like it.. If the band of raiders had not appeared, the man would have been buried gently and respectfully, and with no sudden blow, perhaps he would have eventually suffocated under the soil.

OK, I am not saying no miracle occurred, and I do believe God may have had the prophetic interpretation in mind. The point is, God uses all kinds of things to accomplish his purpose. Whether they are explainable or not, God was still involved. Years ago, I read a book that explained many of the what we might call biblical miracles, all very rationally, many as the consequences of meteorological events. It is true that God might have used natural events to accomplish his purposes, but He orchestrated the timing of it all, just as He might have orchestrated the timing of that man's burial.

How many of us have stood my the bedsides of loved ones or outside operating rooms pleading with God for the life of this person. Oh yes, we may have acknowledged that God knew what He was doing and we wanted God's will, but we also wanted healing. And when the person recovered, we were so grateful for the medical community or medicine. But it was God who timed the miracle that our loved one was living at the time or place where God might use this set of circumstances to bring healing.

I have heard of people who say God doesn't do miracles today, but I think He does them every day, and we are so hardened that we don't see or recognize them. We attribute the averted accident to good timing, the recovery to good therapy or a good doctor, the repentant believer to a sensitive conscience - we forget that God was behind it all. One moment either way, and things could have gone so differently.

Oh God, give us eyes to see that anything good that we have comes from you.