Believing because of miracles

1 Kings 17

Elijah Raises the Widow's Son

• ¹⁷ After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. ¹⁸ And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” ¹⁹ And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰ And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” ²¹ Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child's life come into him again.” ²² And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. ²³ And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.” ²⁴ And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

Luke 5

• Jesus Calls the First Disciples

  5 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, ² and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³ Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. ⁴ And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” ⁶ And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. ⁷ They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” ⁹ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, ¹⁰ and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” ¹¹ And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Between the agony and the ecstasy.

It is in between the cross and the Resurrection.  Random for today is Psalm 32 and Revelation 12.

• 32 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
      whose sin is covered.
  ² Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
      and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
  ³ For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
      through my groaning all day long.
  ⁴ For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
      my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
  ⁵ I acknowledged my sin to you,
      and I did not cover my iniquity;
  I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
      and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
  ⁶ Therefore let everyone who is godly
      offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
  surely in the rush of great waters,
      they shall not reach him.
  ⁷ You are a hiding place for me;
      you preserve me from trouble;
      you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah
  
• ^{Rev 12:11} And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.