Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man: A Daily Devotional

by Walter A. Henrichsen

A Lesson on Miracles “Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it, and said, ‘Thus says the Lord, I have made this water wholesome; henceforth neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.’” II Kings 2:21 The spring watering the city of Jericho was unfit for drinking. The prophet cured the spring by pouring salt into it. Not only was the water now drinkable, they no longer had a problem. The salt not only cured the water, but the spring itself. From this we can draw two related conclusions. First, a miracle is an event contrary to our understanding of how things work. Salt naturally destroys the usability of water; it does not restore it. Not only did the salt heal the waters, one application gave the spring a permanent cure. Second, a miracle assumes an ordered universe where things don’t happen by chance. We assume that inviolable laws govern the universe, and thus the breaking of a law is a miracle. This in turn assumes the existence of a transcendent God who established the laws by which the universe functions. Contrary to most peoples’ assumptions, those skeptical of miracles logically believe in the existence of God. If you deny God’s existence, you deny the existence of the laws governing the universe. All you have left are degrees of probability. In such a universe what you normally call miracles would be common occurrences. You would expect people to occasionally walk on water and raise the dead. Within a world of limitless possibilities, salt wou...