Most of us long for miracles.  And Jesus’ perfect life, death on sinners’ behalf as the fulfillment of Passover, and His physical resurrection prove that He is willing and able to meet our greatest needs:  complete forgiveness and a new heart to trust and follow Him as our living King.  But even in the Bible, most of the journey with Jesus is lived in the moments between miracles.  In this 50-day series, we’ll consider some of those moments leading up to the next great miracle in the New Testament:  the fulfillment of Pentecost and the incredible growth of the Church.

What was the last time someone told you, “I’ll be with you in spirit”?  That’s what people say when they wish they could be with you but can’t.  They might be thinking of you or even praying for you, but they’re not actually with you.

Even though the disciples later saw the Lord Jesus physically ascend into heaven, they knew that He would truly be with them every moment forward.  That’s because they knew that, as their covenant God, He had been with His people from the beginning of time.  In a way, everyone who rest in Jesus and follows Him is like a newborn infant in a stroller:  we can’t see that our loving Father is right behind us with a plan, strength, and love, taking us exactly where we need to go, watching ahead of us, and prepared to provide for us at a moments notice, because He loves us.

We can know that the Lord will always be with His people because He has always been with His people.  Scripture is repeatedly clear on this point.  Consider these encouragements.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34)

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him” (Ephesians 1:3-4)

“He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” (1 Peter 1:20-21)

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24-24)

We often measure others’ commitment to us by what we can see that they’ve done for us.  Most of Jesus’ commitment to us is unseen:  before we were born, tomorrow and into eternity, and in this very moment using even what may seem to be chaos and pain.

Most believers are familiar with Romans 8:28-30, that God uses all things for our good to the very end.  We sometimes forget that the Apostle Paul follows that encouragement with verses 35-39 as an implied reminder that the future for Jesus’ followers can be very difficult.  But that’s the subject of tomorrow’s devotional.

I hope today’s thought and others in this series will be helpful to you as you journey with Jesus in the moments between miracles.

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