An understanding of nature is required before trying to understand miracles. Nature is what causes the planets to spin, what causes the sun to give us heat (not too much, not too little), and what causes wood to float. Nature is what causes water to freeze, what causes plants to grow with water and sunlight, what causes metal to rust, and what causes fire to burn.
These are the things that scientists study. They say that everything can be explained and predicted by science. This is true, but only because God said so. God is the creator of all things (Genesis 1:1) including the rules of nature. He is the creator of logic and order, having created a world of forces such as gravity, motion, and magnetics which are all bound by the laws He established. These forces are so exact and predictable that you can literally set your watch by them. God in this way created the foundations of science and nature.
Miracles are things which happen that are not caused by natural forces. They are caused by something greater than natural forces, or supernatural. Just as the potter formed the clay and reserves the right and the power to change it, God as the creator of natural forces reserves the right to change nature. But why? Why would He change the forces that He established from the beginning? Were they not perfect? Were they not complete?
Throughout the Bible we read of so many occasions where God made an exception and caused a miracle. We read of a huge body of water separating so people could walk on dry land, wooden rods turning into snakes, men with leprosy growing new arms and hands, men walking on water, a man’s severed ear being placed back on his head, and men who were dead many days being raised from the dead. There are countless occasions when Jesus healed or helped people miraculously, for John said that there would not be enough room in the whole world to hold the books that would need to be written to include all the miracles that Jesus had done (John 21:25). But why? Is there some common factor in all of these that we can point to as a reason for God to modify his logical order of nature? Is it because he had compassion? Is it for his desire to rid the world of sickness and hunger? I hope not. Think of the billions of other people who were not miraculously healed or raised from the dead. If compassion were the reason for the miracle, that would prove that God has no compassion for the rest of us. We know that to be false, for He had so much love and compassion for us all that he sent His only son to die for us (John 3:16-17). Therefore, compassion was not the reason for the miracles.
Is the common factor in all these miracles the fact that God wanted to show His power over the forces of nature? Because He wanted to prove to the world that God had in fact sent the miracle worker? Several scriptures seem to support this argument: John 10:38, Acts 2:22, Hebrews 2:3-4, Exodus 4:8-9, and John 4:48. God needed to establish faith among the unbelievers by breaking the rules of nature (John 20:30-31).
God, as the creator of these rules, is capable of breaking them. He allowed certain men in certain periods of time to perform these miracles, as they spread His message to the unbelieving world. God continues to work miracles in our lives today, which is why we pray for His help, comfort, guidance, and protection. But since there are no new revelations of scripture today, God has no need of miracle workers. Just as the Jews were told to tell their children of the amazing things God had done in Egypt, we too are given the accounts of days past when it would take a miracle to make someone believe.
The miracles we read about in the Bible are true, and reading them should have the same faith-creating effects on us as they had on those who witnessed them.