I recently received a wonderful book written by some missionary friends telling about how God has blessed their long and faithful work. It was the record of a husband and wife and children who had dedicated their lives to maintaining a preaching station for the Gospel, and how it grew over the years with many solid converts.

Only one thing about it troubled me—its title—one that I suppose was put there by the publisher. It has the word “Miracles” in the title, describing the work.

As I read through the book, not a single miracle was described. There were many instances of God’s good providence, but no miracles.

Someone had misled us—as they often do in Christian circles today—calling all sorts of marvelous things that God does “miracles.” Let’s stop using that word loosely! Let’s call miracles “miracles” (they don’t happen except in the Bible).

Let’s call them the results of hard labor for the Lord that He blesses, and His providential working regardless of circumstances.

If someone grows a news leg after amputation; that’s a miracle. If Doctors, dedicated to their work, are able to save a leg that would have been amputated in Civil War days—that’s God’s providential working through their expertise. It’s no miracle!