One of the favorite arguments of atheists today is if God
was real He would intact with us as the God in the Bible. If there was a God,
they argue, there would be great miracles and voices from burning bushes. But
today we get that subtitle nudge or that odd coincidence. God interacts with us
differently than in the days after Jesus. He no longer picks the odd one in the
bunch and works miracles through them, God did that with the least expected one
in the bunch, Jesus. A poor carpenter from a remote Jewish town became the
Messiah.
But with Jesus came the Holy Spirit and no longer do a few anointed
ones have audible conversations with God, but rather we all have access through
prayer. Our interactions are more intimate and also easier to understand God
working. Before we may have God parting the Red Sea, but at the same time those
same people that witnessed this great feat were worshiping a golden idol. God
may have realized the big show did not work and maybe an intimate nudge was
what would work with others.
Unfortunately with the story of the parting of the Red Sea
most look at it as a story, even if they are “believers” and have seen the Holy
Spirit at work in their lives. That was the problem with each one of the great
stories of the Bible, as generations separate the events to the people hearing
them, they become fictitious allegories rather than real. At the same time
praying about finding a drill and looking up right after it was done and
finding it in the rafters while standing in the one square foot of a 10,000
square foot building where it could be seen may be God to Katy but just a coincidence
to others.
The great thing about the intimacy of God is rather than
trying to prove it to others, the idea they should try it come into play.
Suddenly they have their “God moment” and a spark may start a flame of passion
for the Lord in a once unbelieving heart. That is the beauty today that we miss
otherwise in OT days. Sure miracles still happen, like with me, that has been
explained away as timing without divine intervention.
No today it’s more difficult to convince others without the
spectacle, but easier to understand when it’s about them.