THE HAND OF GOD: Rahab

Posted on by BETH

“O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever” (Psa. 136:1).

Let us consider how the Lord has used many people to show us that if we turn to him he will receive us. He warns us about those who do not turn to him: “Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up” (Psa. 28:5). The world entices us to set our affections on the works of men, rather than on God’s. If we are fully involved in the world there will be no time to seek God’s works to do them. How can we find out the works that God does?  God has revealed much of what he has done through the scriptures. Note how many times God used David to point to His works.

Continue reading THE HAND OF GOD: Rahab

THE HAND OF GOD (Part 1)

Posted on by BETH

Keep in mind what our Heavenly Father says are miracles:

https://helpmeettohim.org/the-hand-of-god/

https://helpmeettohim.org/category/miracles/

THE HAND OF GOD—Part 1

The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein (Psa. 111:2).

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! (Rom. 11:33).

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge (Psa. 19:1-2).

NOTE:

In this study, we want to distinguish between the miracles (witness of God) and His ordinary work in the world (John 15:23-24). Study each of the following scriptural accounts very carefully (making notes as you go). The following questions can be asked to discern God’s ‘unseen’ work.

  1. What did the people actually see? Was a prophet or an apostle seen doing some miracle? Did the participants see a prophet or apostle do a “miracle,” which was and action beyond man’s natural ability to do?
  2. Did God foretell (through a prophet or an apostle) that certain events would take place which appeared to be from “natural causes?”
  3. Keep in mind:
  4. Take each event in scripture separately and try not to confuse two accounts.
  5. These are plain statements by God about how He works and yet man does not see anything with his naked (physical) eye. The events may appear to be from natural causes to those looking on, but God shows in these accounts that He does them.
  • God’s definition of His witness (miracle—John 15:24)
  • What He has said was the purpose of His witness to his apostles and prophets messengers (Heb. 2:1-4).

Genesis 11:1-9

1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Nothing about the confusion of tongues was explicable to anyone involved, but by faith in God’s own testimony we believe He caused it to happen.

What Does God Call a Miracle?

Posted on by BETH

“If any man speak, let him speak as of the oracles of God….” (1 Peter 4:11)

If we would just remember that, it would save us so much time and error and grief. So many times I have heard discussions among brethren about what a miracle is, and whether we have them today, and we seldom, if ever, look to the Bible for our answers. To the contrary, I hear the “miracle of birth” and the “miracle of the growing seed” (man’s wisdom) mentioned almost every time! Oh! that we had the attitude in 1 Cor. 2:13, “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches…!”

What does GOD call a miracle? For instance, many would like to call the act of God healing a loved one in answer to prayer, a “miracle.” What kind of healing in the New Testament times was called a “miracle?” Look at these sample passages: John 4:50-54; John 9:6-16; John 11:43-47; Acts 3:2-7;4:16,22; Acts 8:6-7; Acts 19:11-12. Notice that in every case, where we are told how fast the healing was done, it was instantaneous, and in every case, it was complete and permanent. It is safe to say that the healings today, in answer to prayer, are never like that. They all take some amount of time to come about. They are the natural healings that God has done since the foundation of the world, to sinners and saved alike.

We cannot call every act of God a miracle, because God Himself does not use the word “miracle” in this way. In John 3:1-2, one of the proofs that Jesus was from God was that no normal man could do the miracles He did, unless he were from God, “There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” There is no doubt that God is intricately involved, day by day, in the things that happen on this earth. For instance, Matthew 10:29-31 says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” Every sparrow that falls to the ground is under the care and control of the Father, but God never calls this a miracle. Again, the Spirit says in Acts 17:24-25, “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.” Every breath that I draw is an act of God, but it is in no way a miracle, because God does not call it that. “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power….” (Heb. 1:2-3) The continued existence of the universe is the result of the work of God, but it is not a miracle.

The events that God called “miracles” in the Scripture are things that 1) could only be done thru the aid of the Holy Spirit, 2) were instantaneous and complete, and 3) were done as a witness of the gospel (Heb. 2:3-4). We need to be careful to use words and definitions which the Holy Ghost teaches, and not the ones that men invent. To do anything else is to add to the words of God, and can cause heresy.

–Brett Johnson