Signs

“The LORD spoke to Ahaz: ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be deep as the netherworld or high as the sky! But Ahaz answered, ‘I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!’”  (Isaiah 7:10-12)

Here the Lord is telling Ahaz to go ahead and ask him for a sign; ask for something BIG, as high as the sky! Yet Ahaz would not do it. He saw it as something negative. Yet we read in scripture that we are encouraged to ask. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) We also see throughout scripture that God uses things as signs of his covenant with mankind. One example is with Noah. God tells Noah, “I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” (Genesis 9:13) When the world makes no sense we often seek a sign from God to help us see the good that can come from tragedy. Only when we turn to God can we transform tragedy into triumph. We can seek wisdom to understand or be angry at God and the world. We often ask God for a sign to know that our loved one is safe with him and He comes through.

“Such is the race that seeks for him, that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.” (Psalm 24:6) This psalm makes me think of all the people in the world who seek signs in everything but the Lord. I know we all feel lost at times but those of us who have opened our hearts to God often seek him for a sign, at times we plead for a sign. After my brother Kevin died in a motorcycle accident at the age of 25, we came across a notebook in his things that had notes and poetry that he wrote. This is part of one of his poems.

Life’s a mystery at least as far as I can see,

don’t understand why I’m here, not sure I want to be.

But who am I to wonder why, who am I to say,

Lord, what is my purpose, why am I here today?

Lord, give me strength, I need a reason to be

Show me the right way, Lord, help me to see.

It touched my heart because it spoke so eloquently of the pain that my brother felt, the same pain that I sometimes feel. It also makes me sad that I never knew that he was hurting this way. But we tend to keep these things hidden, we suffer in silence. We feel that if we doubt God then we don’t really love him. But that is part of being human. When Thomas doubted that Jesus had risen from the dead, Jesus didn’t chastise him he said, here Thomas let me show you, let me help you to believe by allowing you to place your fingers in my nail marks and your hand in my side. Let us open our hearts to the Lord and if we are doubting let us ask him for a sign to increase our faith.