When You Need a Miracle

FAITH  Season 3, Episode 011  "When You Need a Miracle"  audio podcast by award-winning western author Stephen Bly. Sponsored by BlyBooks.com Legacy Series.  

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Transcript

When You Need a Miracle
Joshua 5&6 

We all have times when we get so stuck, we can’t go back. Or forward. We need a miracle. Perhaps we brought the calamity on ourselves. Or it was thrust upon us by other people. Sometimes it’s the logical progress of circumstances we find ourselves in.  

It’s not always a physical predicament like the time at age eleven I got marooned halfway up a cliffside trying to take a shortcut to my aunt’s beach house at Rio Del Mar. It can be emotional dilemma concerning relationships torn apart. Or it can be a spiritual jam, or a dream shattered. You get to that place where you can’t go farther and can’t turn around. Only a miracle will help. 

Sheila came running into my office in tears to tell me about her problem. Three years into her second marriage, she reached an impasse with her husband, Richard. “We never talk,” she said. “He promised to change, but it hasn’t happened. He just sits in front of the TV every night. I can’t stand to live with him anymore.” She sobbed, “I should never have divorced Terry.” 

Sheila crouched halfway up the mountain, desperately clinging on, unable to go further or turn around. Only a miracle will help. Joshua gets in a similar position in Joshua Chapter 5 with the walls of Jericho. 

Joshua 5:12, “The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan.” 

The manna ceased to exist. Only a miracle would do. This transition from eating manna in the wilderness to eating the produce of the land ended 40 years of dependence on God’s special provision. Manna was God’s gift for the desert journey. Divine food from heaven. But not more free lunch.  

They had crossed the Jordan River with no possibility of return. But they still needed God’s supply to keep from starving.  

Joseph grew up in a loving home but then one day found himself in a pit, due to his brothers jealousy. They sold him as a slave to traders going to Egypt. Purchased by the Pharoah’s Captain, he eventually got thrown into prison, unjustly accused. Then the King’s cupbearer deserted him when he interpreted a dream. For Joseph, the manna ceased. That can happen to us too. 

The apostles followed Jesus for three years. The grew confident about how Jesus being with them and leading them. He told them what to do and gave them hours of teaching and assignments for ministry. But suddenly, he was gone. He was dead. And then he rose again. How exciting to have him back with them.  

For forty days, he appeared on and off as their leader. Then the day arrived he lifted up into the clouds and out of sight. What did they do? They stood and stared. The manna ceased.  

Leonard and his wife did very well in real estate. When times got tight in the business, he began to buy property at good prices. As he did well, he tithed to the church. Then he got a great idea. Up on the hillside, he decided to build some condos. So, he liquidated all his other property. He invested along with the bank in beautiful condos, like modern day cliff dwellings overlooking the Channel Islands near Ventura, California. A beautiful location.  

Before the first condo was moved into, the final inspection detected one of the condos starting to slip down the hill. As they investigated the terrain, they discovered the engineers had not properly given the right instructions. The ground was not settled and compacted. They condemned the entire project. And Leonard lost everything. The manna ceased.  

Times in our lives, everything goes great—good job, plenty of food, physical health, obedient children, loving relationships, great ministries, then all of a sudden, the manna ceases. God hasn’t stopped loving us or given up on us. He’s not necessarily punishing us. He may be motivating us to push on beyond infancy to maturity. He wants us to move out of the wilderness into a land of milk and honey.  

1.    At times, the manna ceases. 

2.    The messenger has been sent. 

Joshua 5:13, “Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’ ‘Neither,’ he replied, ‘but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.’” 

God hasn’t deserted Joshua. God knows all about the obstacles. You might think that once Joshua made it to the Promised Land, his worries were over. But Joshua knew better. He scouted out the land years before and knew about the enemies and fortified cities. Now they camped across from Jericho the impregnable walled city. They wondered how they would conquer it.  

Joshua got the people into the Promised Land, but now what? God sent his messenger. But Joshua so deep in his concern about what to do next didn’t recognize the messenger at all. “Whose side are you on?” he demanded.  

When God sends us messengers, we miss it because they aren’t what we expect. It might be a preacher or morning daily devotion or something quite different. Who did he send to Baalam? A donkey (Numbers 22:21-39). Or maybe he’ll send some other surprising source. 

I remember the first church where I was called to serve. The people wanted me there, but the denomination had rules that presented technicalities and hang-ups why I couldn’t serve. So, I needed some time away to pray it through. I headed into the California Sierra Nevada mountains and hiked to a special place overlooking Kaweah Lake. As I opened my Bible, I prayed God would allow me to pastor this church. I looked for God’s messenger in his Word.  

After a wonderful time of fellowship with the Lord, nothing really came to me that day for any direction. So, I drove home through the mountain pass and approached the town on the road going past that church. I fiddled with the radio dial and spun to a Christian station. An evangelist I never listen to harangued about some message. It seemed like he spent most his time promoting a cause that needed money. This time it wasn’t a money appeal. He repeated a Scripture verse, “Knock and it shall be opened unto you.”  

To get home, I must drive by the church. It’s getting late with the sun going down and no one’s around. And I’m thinking about that verse. So, I put on the brakes in front of the church and walk up to the front door. I knock and say out loud, “Lord, I’m knocking. This is the church I want.” And that was my first church.  

Within a week, I take a phone call that revealed the denomination changed their mind. That began a joyful ministry. The messenger came from a source I’d never guess. I just caught a little bit of what he had to say and didn’t send in for his prayer hanky. But the Lord used him. 

3.    Morality is demanded. 

Joshua 5:14,5 … “Then Joshua fell face-down to the earth in reverence, and asked him, ‘What message does my Lord have for his servant? ‘The commander of the Lord’s army host replied, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so.” 

Notice Joshua’s humility. He bowed down and fell on his face. He showed his insignificance in the presence of a greater one. But he had to be reminded to take off his shoes before a holy God.  

Sometimes we forget about holiness. When you’re stuck on a hillside, halfway up a cliff, you want the miracle first. Then you’ll be holy. You say, “God, if you’ll only get me out of this, boy, will I ever be obedient to your Word.” Those kinds of qualities must be heartfelt and demonstrated as an act of worship and service to God. Pride can keep us trapped halfway up the mountain. Some can’t even yell, “Help!” They don’t want to admit they got themselves into that kind of trouble. 

I remember a time I spoke at The Chapel in Akron, Ohio. The whole town of Winchester, Idaho, could sit in the back row. On a Sunday night, twenty people played gorgeous music in the orchestra while the congregation sang. Then I get up as this farm boy with all these people and think, “What am I doing here?” God humbles us.  

I was speaking down in Winona Lake for a family conference sponsored by Moody Bible Institute Week. Enjoying myself, I thought I was doing pretty good in front of that good-sized crowd. One afternoon I walked downtown to beautiful downtown Warsaw. 

Walking across a parking lot in my “Hana, Maui” t-shirt, a guy jumped out of an electrician’s truck and headed toward me. “Hey, have you ever been to Maui?” he asked. “Yeah, my wife and I vacationed there.” “I used to live there before I moved to Indiana,” he replied. “I don’t meet too many people who’ve ever been there.” He mentioned some of the sights and then asked, “What are you doing here?” “I’m speaking here at Winola Lake.” “Oh, that’s great. I’m a Christian. What are you speaking on?” “Family topics. I write books about it.” He said, “Where you from?” At that time I lived in southern California. “That’s great. I have several kids and my wife and I listen to radio.” Suddenly, his face lit up. “I know who you are. This is amazing! I was just driving along and stopped to get an ice cream and ran across somebody famous. I can’t believe it! Wait until I tell my wife. You’re Dr. James Dobson!” I said, “No.” “Who are you?” “I’m Steve Bly.” “I never heard of you.”  

When you’re halfway up the mountain, you got to be humble. And if you’re not willing, the Lord will teach you.  

4.    The method is revealed.  

Joshua 6:1-5, “Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Then the Lord said to Joshua, “March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seen priests carry trumpets the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests lowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.” 

Here's how God will conquer the city. Joshua may have made plans of his own with his generals. They could surround and try to starve them. But that could take a long time and meanwhile other Canaanites could attack from the rear and cause a problem. Or maybe they could build a ramp under the protection of shields to go over the walls. I doubt if one of the suggestions had been marching around the city and blowing horns. And then, do nothing until the next day. 

Too often, we have a limited view of the solution. Moses led the people out of Egypt. They marched across the desert and backed up against the Red Sea. What options did Moses have? I have a feeling he didn’t think he had many. They could either swim or fight Pharoah’s army. Then God revealed his method. 

The method was a process. 

Everything didn’t happen on the first day. In fact, nothing happened on the first day. They’d march around the city. The horns would play. The people inside the city looked over the walls and there wasn’t even one crack. Not even a shiver or falling rock. Then nothing the second day or third. God’s method often comes with a solution we hadn’t considered and timing we hadn’t planned on.  

5.    The mandate is enacted (Joshua 6:16-19. 

The people did exactly what God told Joshua they should do. However, he gave the instructions one day at a time. They learned the method bit by daily bit. To me, that’s very dramatic. They trusted the Lord but didn’t see what or when the end result would be. 

It’s like Noah in the backyard building that ark. There was not only a cloud in the sky, but according to some scholars, there had never been clouds in the sky before. However, Noah kept obeying the Lord, putting the ark together day after day, for one hundred years. He obeyed the mandate, carried out God’s word exactly as told.  

6.    Only then is the miracle provided. 

“When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city” (Joshua 6:20). 

What do I like about this miracle? Every detail was taken care of. I see a special theme here. Some people who disparage miracles claim it was only an earthquake. Good timing though. But all the walls of Jericho didn’t fall down. All the walls … except for Rahab’s house. It’s still there. Wasn’t that an amazing earthquake? A man next to Joshua could ask, “Now, which is Rahab’s house?” “The only one standing.” 

God takes care of every detail. God’s miracles come to accomplish his intended purpose. And they come in his perfect timing. We often ask for miracles to accomplish our intended purpose. God isn’t in the business of dispensing miracles for our purpose.  

The blind man by the pool of Siloam had been blind from birth. The disciples followed the thinking of the day and asked, “Did this man sin or did his parents’ sin?” And I have a feeling this man throughout his life may have often asked for a miracle. Yet, the miracle never happened.  

Jesus replied to their question. “It was neither this man’s sin nor his parents but that the work of God could be displayed in him now.” The miracle came at God’s perfect time.  

Some things in our lives require miracles. And they happen when they accomplish God’s intended purpose. We have to recognize the manna ceased. We look for God’s messenger to bring God’s message. We examine our lives making sure we exhibit that morality required. We have to make up our mind to use God’s given method. We must pay attention to God’s mandate for us. And then we can enjoy God’s intended, miraculous result.  

Now, there are some tough times we get into that God expects us to get out of on our own. Up halfway on that mountain cliff when I was eleven, God didn’t need to send a miracle that day. I looked around and saw a squirrel or chipmunk. He crawled as high as me a few feet away. He turned around and slid all the way down on his stomach.  

I looked down the hill, scared to death, and decided to try to slide on my backside. On the way down, I ripped my bathing suit. So, now I had to walk by the Hotel Rio Del Mar covered with rocks, sand, and dirt, humiliated to tears, not looking at the people. One of the chauffeurs came over and said, “Son, Mrs. Crawford would like you to have this.” He handed me a dollar bill. I thought about coming back every day looking that way.  

Sometimes God says, “Get out of that!” and we’re on our own. Other times, we really need a miracle.  

Remember my friend, Sheila? She decided it wasn’t the end of the world, even though she didn’t know how to go forward with that marriage. She determined to go on. And then she got a different sort of message. 

“I went to our evening Bible study where our preacher taught out of Revelation about the seven churches. It had nothing to do with a marriage relationship, but she heard, ‘You have left your first love.’ I thought, ‘Aha! I should go back and remarry my first husband.’ But I kept thinking about that verse and it dawned on me that the first love those Ephesians had left was not love for a person but their love for the Lord.” She added, “I think maybe that’s my problem.” So, she committed herself to renewing her love for God.  

Then she studied her own morality. She said, “If I’m going to stick it out, I began to wonder, how would I behave if my husband were perfect? I’d never thought about that before because he was so far from being perfect. I realized I’d have to change a lot of things. I decided to be different first.” She worked on her own morality by committing herself to godly methods. That eliminated quite a few things, like murder, suicide, depression, and divorce. She told the Bible study she committed to making her marriage work no matter what. “I’m in it for the long run and I need your help in prayer.” 

She came to see me about three months later. “A miracle happened,” she said. “My husband came home last Friday night …” “Yeah?” I spoke. “That’s the miracle! He never comes home on Friday nights.” It was a start. The process for a miracle had begun.  

When obstacles are so great that we don’t know how we can make it through, we can rejoice in God’s power. There are still miracles left to experience for each of us.  

Stephen Bly

Circa 1995