The God of miracles 3: Does God talk to us?

If we cast our minds back to the Garden of Eden at the beginning of Genesis, the first book in the Bible, there was no real distinction between Heaven and Earth. God walked in the Garden regularly with Adam and Eve, and talked to them directly (Genesis chapter 3, verses 8,9). Perhaps one day it was down at the coast where the Euphrates river poured its vast torrent of water into the Persian Gulf. Maybe another day it was far away in the hill country near the source of the Tigris (Genesis chapter 2, verses 10-14). Sometimes they may have been alone with God; at others there may have been friendly deer watching. Whatever the setting, it would have been a ‘Heaven-and-Earth’ all as one entity and the natural laws of the two realms would presumably have been significantly merged in those days. I like C.S. Lewis’ description of the Creation in the first of his Narnia series, The Magician’s Nephew, which sort of hints at what I am describing here. After the Fall of mankind, though, when Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit (again in Genesis chapter 3), Earth got cut off from Heaven and God left the Earth mainly to the Universe-natural laws, rather than Heavenly natural laws. Apart from, that is, some interventions from time to time - i.e. miracles.

After this, God still made his presence felt in person. He sometimes took on human form (known to theologians as a theophany) to talk to people. He appeared in this way to various characters in the Old Testament, and was occasionally referred to as 'The Angel of the Lord'. For example, he appeared visibly to tell Abraham that his wife would have a baby in a year's time (Genesis 18, verses 1-15) and when announcing to Gideon that he would save Israel from the Midianites (Judges chapter 6, verses 11-14). Since this was after the Fall, and so such interaction was no longer normal, these were miraculous events.

God always wanted to talk to his people and that has not changed today.

Similarly, Jesus appeared to people after he rose from the dead. These encounters were a bit different from previous theophanies, because he had actually come alive again in his own body, since that had disappeared from the tomb; however, his body acted more like a theophany than a normal human one, in that he could appear and disappear at will, but also eat (e.g. Luke chapter 24, verses 36-43). Another example of Jesus' resurrection appearances is when he joined two of his followers as they walked along the road to Emmaus (Luke chapter 24, verses 13-32). This type of miracle is a ‘Heaven and Earth with no barrier’ experience, like in the Garden of Eden. Thinking in terms of the definition of a miracle as a sign or a wonder, that was definitely a sign (that he was alive again), but also a wonder because of the fact that Jesus’ natural body had been very dead.

Those rare occasions when we might hear God’s audible voice, like Samuel (1 Samuel chapter 3, verses 1-18) or encounter an angel, like Jesus' mother, Mary (Luke chapter 1, verses 26-38), are also this type of miracle. I have, on a few occasions, heard God say something so clearly that I have looked around to see if someone had spoken, but there was nobody there. I have once encountered an angel. Some people this century are sure that what they have seen was Jesus appearing to them and, based on the message that they passed on from him, we have no reason to doubt them. God still wants to talk to his people - and so he does.

The God of miracles 2: Does God steer nature?

Have you ever wondered how God answers so many prayers when the conditions required to do that seem to be totally incompatible? For example, I have heard accounts on more than one occasion, from reliable witnesses, of answers to prayer about the weather. Normally it has been along the lines of, "The weather forecast was solid rain all day and we seriously needed some dry weather in the middle of the afternoon, so we prayed and there was no rain from one o'clock until three - just when we needed it. The next day we bumped into some friends in the shop who remarked how the rain had been unrelenting all day - just what was needed because the ground had been too dry for the crops. They live in the next village, just a mile away, but it seems that only we had the dry spell." On a showery day the clouds drop their water only in certain places, but sometimes God arranges holes in the rain when there is otherwise no respite from one horizon to the other. In a case such as this, that provided the answers to the prayers of the farmers for rain and of the individual for a brief dry period.

Irene and I have observed the opposite as well. We were visiting somewhere on what started out as a clear day and a weather front passed over. Along the line of the front there was what appeared to be a pillar of cloud just at one place. Clearly it was raining there and nowhere else in the area. I had had a dream of a postcode, which turned out to be in the same district and when we plotted the direction of the cloud pillar on a map it coincided perfectly with the postcode. We now live in that exact place.

God works everything together for the good of those who love him. (Romans chapter 8, verse 28)

These are just one type of example of how God manages to make things work together to do what he wants in the world through natural processes, and at the same time answer conflicting prayer requests from a vast number of people. Does he do this by setting up the Universe in a way that will naturally do what is required in the future at the appropriate times? Does he instead steer the natural processes in some way, on a daily basis, without actually breaking the physical laws? Does he sometimes actually intervene to change what would happen naturally? We shall probably never know, because we experience much of this as normal life, rather than clearly miraculous signs and wonders. In fact, there is probably a bit of all three involved. This is, however, still God making everything happen the way that He wants. Let us not forget to thank God for answers to prayer that he provides quietly through nature.

The Lincolnshire adventure

Irene and I moved to Lincolnshire in December last year. We are currently renting an ex-farmhouse on the banks of a small river, miles from anywhere except a a few houses dotted around in the fields. We are in the fens and so the land is pretty much flat, which gives us great views and spectacular sunrises and sunsets. We are getting to know some of the local wildlife and are able to free-range our chickens, which they say they enjoy immensely. We came here partly because we had got to know a vicar in one of the villages just across the fields. Since arriving, we have been doing some voluntary work with him: playing the guitar (Irene) and keyboard (me), helping out a messy church for the young families and, at the moment, assisting with church food bank deliveries. A few weeks ago I was asked to write an article for the community magazine, explaining who I am and why as a scientist I believe in God. The full article can be found here and I summarize it below.

Those of you who know me will be aware that I am a physicist/engineer by profession. The more fundamental physics you get to know, the more incredible it becomes. The truth about the nature of the universe is so bizarre that it could not possibly have invented itself. When people tell me that they don’t believe in God because science gives us all the answers, I explain that one thing scientists understand almost for certain is that we currently know only about 5% of what the universe is. The knowledge that we do have of that 5%, though, actually does indicate the existence of a creator.

If, then, there is a creator God, the story of the Bible makes complete sense . He made us humans to be with him, but we generally live without him. Other religions vainly try to put in place human measures to overcome our failings, but the real creator God sent his perfect son, Jesus, to take responsibility for our imperfections through his death on the cross. This sets those who believe that Jesus is God free to live for him and to enter heaven.

How, though, do we know that this story is true? Over the years I have seen many people’s lives completely changed for the better once they become Christians. I have also seen God do many things in answers to prayer, i.e. miracles. I have personally been healed by God on several occasions and have witnessed Him heal others many times when I have prayed for them. All this put together convinces me that God exists, Jesus is indeed his son, and he is good. The rest of this blog explores the points above in more detail.