“There are none so blind as those who will not see!”
I know that pharaoh’s heart was hardened by God, but only after he had hardened his own heart. (See Exodus 8:15, 32, 9:34) In fact, God bends over backwards to figure out what stubborn skeptics will use in order to justify their blindness. He then counters their argument so that they are without excuse.
In Romans 1, it points out that God has placed obvious evidence of his own existence and character in nature, “So they are without excuse”. When he does miracles, he is careful to include details that prove that it was not just an accident or observer mistake. For example, when the Israelis walked through the Red sea on dry land, skeptics say it was the Reed sea and actually shallow. Then drowning Pharaoh’s capable military in it was an even bigger miracle!
When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego went into the furnace, skeptics say that it was not really that hot. Then killing the powerful military men who threw them in was an even bigger miracle.
When they say that Jesus was not really dead, I would like to see them survive being speared in the heart by a capable roman soldier trying to make sure they were dead.
When Lazarus died, no one wanted to open the tomb knowing that, by now, he stank. When they took Jesus down and buried him the skeptics say that his disciple stole him away. It would take a bigger miracle for these same disciples to turn the world upside down and be willing to die gruesome deaths for someone they personally knew to be a fake.
The water into wine adds the detail that usually they bring out the bad wine when everyone is tipsy, yet, even tipsy, the guest could tell that this was not water and not just wine but top quality wine. This counters the skeptic’s explanation that it was still water.
No, the skeptic has to either accept the Bible or accept a preposterous alternative story. They are willfully blind and are without excuse. Thus God is justified when he judges them Because They Know God to be God but do not want to give him glory or control. 2 Peter 3:5
How often do I, who claim to love the Lord, fail to give him the glory for his work in my life by chalking it up to “luck” or my own efforts?
In the journey group I attend at my church, we practice the presence, the activity, the reality of God’s acting in and through us. We especially look for “serendipities” where he uses precise timing, just in the nick of time to teach us, guide us, provide for us or give us ministry opportunities.
“Lord, open my eyes that I might see. Thank you for daily counting the hairs on my head and being intimately involved in the little things of my life. Help me to hear your still small voice, to see the plain reality of your reality and activity in my life and the world around me.” I Kings 19:12
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