The Bet Halevi tells us a very interesting chiddush. Why is it that we see less miracles today than in previous generations? He says that when somebody sees a miracle, that forces him to admit that Hashem is in charge, and that basically takes away one's freedom of choice. We're in this world for choices. God put in this world that there's always a choice. There's always an equal option. As it says, God made the world this opposite that. When there was prophecy in the world, the negative forces had black magic or whatever else they had. When we have a strong pull towards something positive, there always has to be a negative force countering it. That's the world we live in. So if there's an open miracle that tilts the scale, there's no longer a level playing field, as far as our freedom of choice.
But in the previous generations, he says, they reached that level of clarity on their own. They no longer had doubts, so they could have miracles, because the miracle would not impact them or change them in any way. He uses the famous story of Rav Chanina Ben Dosa who was able to make the vinegar light. What did he say? His statement was, “The One that said oil will burn, will say vinegar will burn.”
He didn't say, “Abracadabra, I'm going to make a miracle.” He said there was no difference between oil and vinegar. ‘I don't see a difference between oil burning and vinegar burning, it's all the same.’ In the words of the Bet Halevi, He didn't walk away and say, “Wow, unbelievable!” No.
Whatever hizzuk/strength he would've gotten, he already had. He reached that level on his own, with his own hard work.
I like to use a Mashal. Imagine a student taking a test. The teacher is not going to give him the answers. But once a student has proven complete mastery of the material, to the point that he does not need to be tested, there's no need to conceal the answers from him, because he already has the answers. He's a child prodigy. It's not a question. He's the one that wrote the Regents. This is exactly what Hashem does. He, so to say, conceals the answers, which is His presence, in order to test us on whether we firmly believe that He’s here in our lives. Once we reach the level where we know the answer, and we are as certain of Hashem's presence, as we would be if He did perform open miracles, then we're worthy of seeing these miracles.
There is another source for this concept, that Hashem wants us to always have freedom of choice in our Emunah and Bitachon. During the 40 years that the Jewish people were in the midbar, Hashem sustained them with the manna and they were commanded that they could not leave the manna over from one day to the next. But Datan and Aviram disobeyed and left it over for the next day, and a miracle happened-all the leftover manna became wormy. Moshe was upset with them.
But why did Hashem command that no manna should be left over? Why was Hashem upset at them for not listening?
The Meshech Chochma says Hashem wanted to test the Jewish people’s bitachon and therefore commanded them to go to sleep with empty cabinets and no food for the next day, trusting that Hashem would provide for them the next day. When Datan and Aviram left it over, they actually ruined the test for everybody else as well, because when they left it over and the manna became infested with worms, no one was tempted to leave anything over.
Moshe was upset at Datan and Aviram for removing that test rom the Jewish people, and removing their ability to demonstrate their faith and reliance on Hashem.
Hashem wants us to have a freedom of choice. He doesn't want us to take away our Emunah by some external miracle of sorts.
Have a wonderful day.