When Repeated Miracles Become Common Sense
Psalms 27:1-8
It is said that people of a certain African tribe believe that God grants their prayers 100% of the time. If it does not rain in the summer, they pray to God “until it rains.” Then, “eventually,” it does rain.
Therefore, they claim that their prayers have never once gone unanswered. It may sound absurd and like a joke, but it is an anecdote that makes us reflect once again on our own prayer habits and their faith.
There is a world of difference between searching for a lost item with the conviction that it is definitely somewhere out there, and searching with the mindset that it might be there or it might not be. Conviction allows one to overcome fear and terror.
You must search with the conviction that it is definitely there to find it, but otherwise, you will easily give up. It is because they know that it will definitely rain that they can pray until it comes.
Only by praying with the faith that He will surely answer can one pray consistently and obtain what they desire. “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).
George Müller, a man of prayer, was a man whose life was completely transformed through prayer meetings after he had lived a dissolute life. Afterward, without receiving any assistance from the British government, he fed over 2,000 orphans three meals a day without fail.
When asked, “How can you accomplish such a great work?” he replied that it was because he relied “only on God.” He received answers to his prayers more than 50,000 times, and through this, he came to be called the father of 150,000 orphans.
One day, the food at the orphanage ran out. And it was not enough food for just one or two hundred children. A caregiver reported to Müller, “There is nothing left to feed the children. What should we do?” To this, he answered without hesitation.
“Is that so? Then prepare the table as usual.” Fifteen minutes before mealtime, the caregiver spoke to Müller again with a nervous heart. “We have to eat in fifteen minutes. But there is nothing to put on the plates.”
“Don’t worry. I have prayed to God… God, who answers prayers, surely wouldn’t be asleep.” Müller replied calmly. The nanny had come back to Müller five minutes earlier. “There are only five minutes left now.”
As soon as she finished speaking, several wagons loaded with mountains of bread drove through the door with a loud roar. Thus, the orphans were able to eat lunch just as usual. How could he have remained so composed at that moment?
It was due to the virtuous cycle of prayer. He had experienced God answering his prayers whenever he earnestly prayed to Him with his prayer requests. Because he remembered the God who had protected them in the past, he was convinced that He would do the same now.
The repeated experience of answered prayers brings conviction to the heart, and this conviction leads to trust in God. Then, one becomes able to earnestly pray to God again with faith.
** This repetition of prayer and answer constitutes the virtuous cycle of prayer. Through prayer, good and positive things continue to happen. In this way, faith and trust in God become stronger.
Miracles gradually become “common sense.” Repeated miracles have produced a faith that makes miracles feel like common sense. It is a conviction that transcends fear and terror. This applies equally to us.
Those who have experienced God’s presence in the past come to believe that He will continue to accompany them in the future. God’s past becomes our present, and also our future. David was a man who enjoyed the grace of this virtuous cycle of prayer.
Psalm 27 is his testimony and proclamation. Even in the midst of desperate situations involving threats to his life and attacks by enemies, David transcends fear and terror by making the Lord his light, salvation, and the power of life.
And he proclaims, yearning to dwell solely in God’s presence: “When He said, ‘Seek My face,’ I said in my heart, ‘O Lord, I will seek Your face'” (Verse 8).
David clings to God to find the answer when only His mercy can establish him. In other words, when his life is in crisis, David seeks the answer within his relationship with God.
For David, God was not a theory, but a reality. Therefore, he refers to God in the first person, calling Him “My Light” and “My Salvation.” He is conveying that Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship with God.
Psalms 27:1
“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; whom shall I dread?”
The same applies to us. The answers to all the events, big and small, that occur in our lives lie with God. We can find the right and complete answers through a right relationship with God.
Only those who walk with God now can entrust their future to Him and wait for what He will do. It is a virtuous cycle of prayer.
God the Father,
I praise the Lord,
who was with us yesterday and is with us today.
Amidst repeated miracles,
believing in the virtuous cycle of prayer,
may we walk with the Lord, who says today, “You can do it.”
I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
The One who said, “You can do it”
