The Purpose of Miracles
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. Psalm 139:6 NASB
Too wonderful– What does “too wonderful” mean to a poet in the tenth century BCE? Well, not just any poet, but a poet who is saturated with a culture and a nation that believes YHVH to be the one true God. Perhaps his understanding of “too wonderful” isn’t quite like ours. We have adopted “too wonderful” as a description of clothing, food, wine, cigars, sports achievements, big bank accounts and just about anything that surpasses the ordinary. But that’s not David’s view at all. His choice of pilʾîy-yah (from pālāʾ) says something about the divine character of “wonderful.”
Preponderantly both the verb and substantive refer to the acts of God, designating either cosmic wonders or historical achievements on behalf of Israel. That is, in the Bible the root plʾ, refers to things that are unusual, beyond human capabilities. As such, it awakens astonishment (plʾ) in man. Thus, the “real importance of the miraculous for faith (is) — not in its material factuality, but in its evidential character … it is not, generally speaking, the especially abnormal character of the event which makes it a miracle; what strikes men forcibly is a clear impression of God’s care or retribution within it” (Eichrodt). We may add that it is essential that the miracle is so abnormal as to be unexplainable except as showing God’s care or retribution.[1]
When David uses pilʾîy-yah, he’s pointing the reader toward the awesome character of YHVH in action. He’s focused on what is truly beyond human comprehension, that is, God Himself. The popular Christian book, Knowing God, is really an oxymoron. The truth is more like this: the impossibility of knowing God. You see, unless God reveals Himself in some humanly comprehensible way, there is no way to know Him. And when He does reveal Himself in some humanly comprehensible way, then what we know of Him is only what human beings can know. All the rest remains a mystery. All the rest is, quite literally, too much, too wonderful for any of us.
Perhaps it’s worth noting that miracles are not miraculous simply because they cannot be explained in natural causal terms. In fact, if we consider miracles as aberrations of natural law, we leave open the possibility that some natural explanation will eventually be possible, and the miraculous will no longer be a miracle. pālāʾ reminds us that the purpose of a “miracle” is not to suspend natural causation. It is to push us in the direction of awe, in the acknowledgement of God’s character. Miracles exist to force us toward wonder. Human beings are creatures that often mistake their own existence as the summum bonum of creation. Then God shows up—and we see our true place in it all. This verse is a reminder. We aren’t gods after all.
Topical Index: miracle, wonderful, pālāʾ, Psalm 139:6
[1]Hamilton, V. P. (1999). 1768 פָּלָא. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (723). Chicago: Moody Press.
“Then God shows up—and we see our true place in it all.”…or maybe we don’t?
(I REALLY appreciate TW. Thanks, Skip…and all who comment.)
Adds weight to the fact how fearfully and wonderfully made I am. Hallelujah somebody
Amen…hallelujah!
Gal. 4:9 “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God…”
Perhaps miracles are not so much a revelation of God to us, as they are a way to impress us with the consciousness that He knows us; and cares. A miracle gives you a strange, overwhelming sense that you are not alone: Somebody reached out and touched. It is a strange feeling to be touched with the naked hand of God; we who are so isolated and alone.
Indeed, Laurita
Thank you for this, Skip. It encourages me to remember that God has His own particular reasons for His timing and manners of interaction with us.
This morning, I looked to the East, just as the sun was beginning to show its presence in the colors that transformed the sky from midnight blue to purple to fuchsia and then brilliant coral, and for the first time I wondered, “Did God design the beauty of the sunrise just for us?” “What must it ‘look like’ to Him?” Then, several other similar questions came to mind, and I was left with a sense of awe, not just for the view, but as you point out, “there is no way to know Him.”
What an awesome Creator!
In addition to being emotionally and spiritually challenged, I am most definitely mathematically challenged; but even that doesn’t prevent me from wondering if there isn’t an algebraic formula or algorithm for everything …except YHWH. Personally I wouldn’t know a quack or from a quirk, much less a quadratic equation from a differential equation. I’m not even sure why some people say math in the plural. (is maths a secret society?) But TW got me to wondering if there isn’t a way to graph the phenomena of ancient mans lack of scientific understanding of YHWH’s creation, but which nonetheless yielded great spiritual appreciation and application against modern man, who with all his scientific tools (particle accelerators, satellites and nuclear microscopes) can explain the smallest and largest of His creation (the quark and the cosmos) yet it bears little to no spiritual appreciation or application. Yet even if it were to be properly graphed I wouldn’t be able to read it and most certainly still never understand it.
So my question is does our ability to reduce everything to a formula, chart or equation do more harm than good? Has the age of scientific enlightenment dimmed the Light of the World? With the advent of Crisper technology we have entered into an age that can “create” not just new body parts, but novel creatures, and mythical monsters from the smallest strands of DNA. In ancient days YHWH created man in His own image and “the gods” created monsters (Nephilim in Gen. 6:1-4). Today we are making YHWH in our image and creating our own monsters.
I am fearful these new maths and paths will add to our woes, multiply our sorrows, subtract from our faith and divide humanity into a classes of genetically modified “have” and “have nots” never before imagined, even in the eyes of the “gods”. Ignorance may be bliss, but knowledge is blight.
Well, this is apparently where the last folks before the Deluge got to, because we are told that we will get there again, and when we get there, YHVH will intervene again (which He is going to need to pretty soon, here, I believe). Some of us who are not limited by having to think things evolved can imagine that some of the particularly nasty biological creatures destroyed in that flood (not allowed on the Ark) may not have been allowed because they could have been engineered. Adam had access to all the secrets of creation, after all. That knowledge (dangerous in the hands of fallen men) would have gotten passed on (and not only biological: astrological, too – we aren’t the only ones who have ever held star secrets). Some of the very ancient archaeological stuff does not make a whole lot of sense unless you are thinking about (non-industrial) technology we have not even gotten to yet. I think it didn’t work out so well for those folks either. Just my opinion.
Thanks for the belly laugh of the day. Sad that this is what we have to laugh about.
Michael, I love your poetic interpretations and this TW is no exception but I think your question “does our ability to reduce everything to a formula, chart or equation do more harm than good?” may be a bit misguided. We are instructed by God to “fill the earth and MASTER it” not as a commandment but as a blessing.
To me this means “you don’t know what you don’t know so go find out and use the talents that I have given you to discover all you can about the wonders I have created for you, they will blow you away! But BE CAREFUL how you use them because they cut both ways.”
The Purpose of Miracles. January 10, 2019.
I am wondering if anyone has had an experience that could be called a miracle. A physical healing I mean.
I was in a meeting years ago when the man speaking asked if there is anyone who has never been prayed for regarding a physical healing. (I had personally asked and prayed about healing directly to God in around 1982 and never doubted that I had been healed.) I was the only person in the room of maybe 20 or so people from what I remember who hadn’t been. So I was asked to go to the front and I was asked to sit down on a chair and put my legs out straight so he could see if they were the same length. One leg appeared to be shorter than the other one. He prayed and I saw one leg grow out. I wasn’t moving my legs. No cell phones in those days unfortunately otherwise I am sure it would have been easily put on video. I can’t remember who was in the room and I didn’t write anything down about it or ask others to do so as witnesses. A shame really. I really think it happened and was a miracle.
I often think about physical healings and one in mind recently was when Yahshua healed the soldier’s ear.
The Purpose of Miracles. January 10, 2019
I recently had an experience of healing that I don’t remember sharing about yet. I had heard that linen was a healing fabric but I never expected to be healed after sleeping on all linen sheets. This is what I posted on fb after the experience:
I can walk again without limping.I can get up without holding onto the rings on the train and I don’t have to stretch my leg before attempting to walk. I can put all my weight on my right leg. I can cross my right leg without using my hands to do that. I don’t have to dread walking 10 minutes. I don’t have to feel embarrassed at how old I was feeling!
Everything changed literally overnight about a week ago. (This happened at the end of October 2018.). I won’t be needing surgery as I was imagining or wondering could be the case. Last Thursday I was so baffled when I got to the station which was a 15-minute walk down a pretty steep hill and my leg was ok. I was baffled all day. Then suddenly as I was walking to the station after missing a bus, I started thinking about it. Why? Did God heal my leg? What happened? Why was my leg suddenly ok? Then I recalled an interview I had watched a few years ago. A lady’s wrist had been healed after 18 months of severe pain after sleeping on a linen SHEETS. She said that she had been to many doctors (20). Nothing helped. She started a linen company after this experience. Two nights before that I had slept on layers of linen. (It’s possible that it had been healed after the first night.) I had never done that before and only did that because I decided not to use cotton anymore. I had a lot of linen and liked it better. It never occurred to me that my leg could be or would be healed! If I had thought about it, I might have videotaped my condition as proof! I do have my youngest daughter as a witness. And the security guards at school who saw how hard it was for me to walk recently. They heard both stories, about how I hurt my leg and what the linen did. Maybe a few others as well.
Linen is a super fabric! Frequency of 5000!
(That doesn’t mean I am going to run a marathon. I hurt my leg because of years of using a purse that kept on hitting my leg. I am going to be cautious. It’s like a night and day difference but it’s not a new leg!). Btw, all futon covers were 50 percent off or more at Muji.
The testimony I had heard a few years before is on YouTube and was posted by Paul Nison who interviewed her. She posted a study as well titled ‘Life Giving Linen Study. I think I first read this study in around June of 2018.
Gen. 1:29 ……”I have given to you every herb….tree…..to you it shall be for food”…. “Food” in Hebrew is achal, A- (to initiate) CL- (whole) so it’s more than to “nourish by consuming” (as in eating). The mistake we’ve made is the isolation of certain properties in plants, etc. for their healing properties when it’s the properties of the plant in combination that is most effective. We’ve isolated instead of concentrating, but isn’t it interesting how form follows function and now our societies match our processes.
The Purpose of Miracles. January 10, 2019.
Herbs. Reminds me of a herbal black salve that looks amazing! Paul Nison calls himself the ‘Health Watchman’. He has posted many good things about health but I disagree with him completely on many Bible related topics. Another subject. Regarding a physical healing, he has or used to have a post on YouTube showing how a tumor in his back came out after a week of having the black salve applied. He showed the progress daily. After it came out, he applied another salve to help continue the healing process. It was all natural and healed!
After my experience with linen, I started becoming very interested in essential oils. I had bought a book at a secondhand bookshop about healing oils in the Bible that sounded interesting but only picked it up a few times before. Now I am listening to talks. So much to learn!
It’s very sad that most of us, I think, know so little on the subject of natural ways of healing but blindly trust doctors who are just following orders. I respect them when it comes to body mechanics Only.
We might need a working defenition of miracles to really ferret this one out. I like the notion that a miracle is a natural or supper natural event with precise timing such that Yehovah gets the glory. Really as Heschel points out much that is truley sacred becomes holy in the timing. The Pagan religions made place, rutines, purposes sacred. The Hebrews (and their God) made times sacred. We enter the realms of wonder when the miracle of the suspension of time occures, or the presence of the Holy spirit effects our experience of the time we are in.