“³³Scared to death, the swineherds bolted. They told everyone back in town what had happened to the madmen and the pigs. ³⁴Those who heard about it were angry about the drowned pigs. A mob formed and demanded that Jesus get out and not come back.” MSG 

For the last few days I have been mulling over a Scripture that I read in Matthew 8:34. This incident occurred after Jesus had cast demons out of two men into a herd of pigs, who then ran over a cliff into the ocean where they drowned.

When the swineherds saw what had happened to both the men and the pigs, they raced back to town and told everyone. But instead of being in awe of the men’s healing and rejoicing at their restoration, the town folk were angry about the pigs! They were more concerned with their possessions than someone’s life. Nor were they interested in rejoicing over the good fortune of the two men when they had lost valuable livestock.

Now mind you, the whole town knew about these two men and the fact that they were demon-possessed. These townspeople had probably watched the men grow up, knew their families, and had almost certainly seen the deterioration in the boys as they grew into men. They knew how terrible the lives of these men had become. Matthew tells us that the men lived in a cemetery, and that they were so violent that people were afraid to walk down “the stretch of road nearby it.” But the people of the region demanded that He leave.

More recently, our attention has been drawn to the horrifying situation in Asia with the tsunami. Stories have poured forth of both miracles and horrendous loss. A young couple that I know was vacationing there at that time. They were on a boat so that the deadly wave went beneath them without them even knowing it. Unharmed, they had only to deal with the “inconvenience” to their travel schedule. Not knowing the Lord, they explained it as just “good luck,” and they did not acknowledge that a Holy God might have a plan for their lives.

The thing that has bothered me is how often have you and I done the same thing as the townspeople and that young couple? Have we repeatedly seen miracles that could only be attributed to our Heavenly Father, and simply turned our back and gone on about our business? We are awed; nonetheless, we forget what happened, and go our way. What about miracles that happen in our world but because the outcome isn’t what we like or think it should be, or human mind can’t find a reasonable explanation, mankind refuses to acknowledge what He has done? Finally we end up in the pitch dark on the edge of a rugged, rocky crag screaming for help from God while wondering where He went?

How about the children of Israel? Isn’t it easy to be critical of a people who saw the Red Sea part, walked through it and saw it close again to kill the Egyptians, but turned back to idols? It’s easy to point a finger at those, who in the midst of a desert, saw fresh, sweet water gushing out of the middle of a rock and then grumbled about the free food. It’s even harder to understand a people who sat on a mountain for a day and watched the priests of Baal challenge God to a showdown with an altar of sacrifice. As they watched, the heavens opened and answered with a holy fire that burned not only the offering, but also the altar of stones and the moat of water surrounding it. Gosh, that would have made a believer out of me!

We find recorded in the Bible that Israel saw many wondrous miracles, but how many times did they just go back to living their lives as before? The knowledge that they were God’s chosen people did not change their hearts over the hundreds of years when God repeatedly sent prophets, warnings, and even living pictures of His great love. Finally the nation of Israel was destroyed, her treasures stolen, her people carried into captivity, and her temple left in rubble. In spite of the fact that Israel was sent the greatest miracle of all–our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ–to this day they want nothing to do with Him.

There have been miracles in my own life at which I now look back and marvel. The miracle of survival when my daughter was born so prematurely with underdeveloped lungs (and who will be 20 next month!), the miracle of the unanticipated check in the mail that was just $.25 too much (and from an unexpected source) when I needed college textbooks and didn’t know what to do but pray, the staggering blessing when I faced two biopsies for two different cancers in one week–and both were benign. Yet I can still see times in my life where even after all of this, I said “Thank You,” and headed off down the road of my life by myself. How could I be like that?

Having worked in the medical field for nearly 20 years, I frequently read or hear of miraculous happenings. Tumors disappear, organs are whole again, and those who were told they couldn’t walk or hear or see again do these things. Yet the world assigns it to “luck,” “chance,” or “test error.” Stories of survival in horrendous, seemingly impossible circumstances bring tears to my eyes. Yet mankind still refuses to turn its eyes to a loving Father God to gratefully honor Him, instead of blaming Him for everything from unwanted life to unexpected death, to earthquakes, to floods, wars and so much more.

For those who have never met Jesus Christ personally, or chosen not to acknowledge His Touch in their lives, who have never given praise to anyone but themselves, who have never given anyone credit for a sunrise or sunset, who’ve never been in awe of the crashing waves of the ocean, who have never seen a birth or marveled at a little one in their arms, who have never acknowledged the incredible inner workings of their own bodies and minds, who have never, ever been grateful in a moment when they knew their life had been spared or their immense talent was a God-given gift, for those who have never found the path at all, who have turned their back, hardened their heart, and gone the opposite direction––I have good news for you:

He still does miracles in lives today. Don’t think that it is luck or happenstance. Don’t demand that He leave just because something happened that you didn’t understand or you felt you lost something or someone precious. Recognize and acknowledge miracles in your life to Him.

Invite Him to stay. Just ask, He’ll stay. Always.

Copyright 2005 by Desiree Marrion

Desirée Marrion is a member of Eastside Foursquare Church. She is a single mom, a grandmother, and an administrative assistant at a medical research facility. You may reach her at: marrion8955@yahoo.com