Just Give Me A Sign, God

Do you ever feel like you just need a sign from God?  If so, you’re not alone.

In Jesus’ day, the religious leaders were always demanding a sign from heaven.  Something to “validate” Jesus’ words. 

This didn’t resonate with Jesus very well. 

[Jesus] sighed deeply and said, "Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it."  Mark 8:12

Ouch!  When Jesus “sighs deeply”, something must be wrong.

To put Mark 8 in context, you have to read the prior chapters.  Jesus had just healed the sick, walked on water, and fed thousands and thousands of people.  He had given plenty of “signs”!  Yet, the religious leaders still missed it.  They probably wanted a political sign – or a magic show that would display worldly power and authority.  Healing the sick and feeding hungry people probably isn’t what they had in mind.

Over 2000 years later, and some things never change.  I hear myself telling God, “If you’d just do this one thing, I’ll know it’s you speaking.”  Or, worse yet, I tell God that I’m entitled to a sign before I choose to demonstrate faith.

Yet the signs are all around me.  Just because the sign I want isn’t the sign I get, it doesn’t mean that God isn’t speaking.  Sometimes, we just choose to wear earplugs.  Or the noise around us is so incredibly loud that, even when God does speak, we still can’t hear very well.   

For example, yesterday morning in church, I was singing a song that I've sang dozens and dozens of times.  But somehow, I had totally missed the words before.  And I heard them for the very first time.  They pierced my soul, and I found myself silently weeping.  How could I have missed it before?  God was speaking directly to my heart, yet I've been too busy asking him for a "sign."

Have you recently had one of those ah ha moments?  Instead of asking for a sign, I suggest we look around us, take out the earplugs, and turn down the volume.  We may just have the sign we've been looking for.