Whether an amazing change to our circumstances happens or not, be it in terms of miraculous healing or whatever, the main thing is that we bring glory to God in all that we do – whether by life or by death. And for Paul, it was his weakness that he gloried in, not the “power gospel” of the “super-apostles”.

That the miraculous is real is a given for Christians, since we know that God exists, and that he interacts with our world. We are not deists: we know that God takes an active role in the affairs of men. But the question that needs to be addressed here is this: Can some believers over-rely on signs and wonders at times?

That is, some believers are always talking up the miraculous and the need for it, almost assuming that if we have such signs and wonders occurring, that will automatically bring people to faith. The truth is, as we know from both Scripture and church history, sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t.

We cannot assume that just because some amazing thing happens that people will leave their unbelief and embrace the gospel – or even that believers will be further strengthened in their faith. It does sometimes happen, but not always. Simply reading the Bible will make this clear enough. In a moment I will look at one example from the book of Numbers, since that is where I am now reading.

But so many other examples of the miraculous can be mentioned – examples that show that a saving faith was not always the outcome. For example, King Ahab saw the miracles of Elijah but he still persecuted God’s people. Pharaoh experienced firsthand heaps of the miraculous, but still his heart was hardened. Psalm 78:11-17 discusses God’s own people in this regard:

They forgot his works
and the wonders that he had shown them.
In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
He made streams come out of the rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

And it was the same with Jesus of course. The disciples saw the Lord’s miracles, and even did some of their own, but in the end they all abandoned Christ. And as we read about the people in general in John 12:37: “Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.”

Moreover, Jesus had to make warnings like this: “A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah” (Matthew 16:4). And then we have the issue of false miracles. Simply think of the first few signs and wonders that Pharaoh’s magicians duplicated after Moses and Aaron had performed them. Or consider warnings given to us elsewhere in Scripture. Paul for example provides this strong word in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12:

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Incredibly we read there that God even allows deceptive signs and wonders for those who continue to reject him. And our Lord himself made clear warnings about this. Mark 13:21-23 for example says this:

^“And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.”

Or as we read in Revelation 16:13-14: “And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.”

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