So why do we continue to ask for signs? How many more can we look at before truth is realized?
How good are you with directions? Me? I’m terrible. I have used everything from Siri, TomTom, Garmin, you name it…and somehow, I still manage to miss the signs and not arrive at my destination smoothly.
This doesn’t just happen to me with highways signs.
Sometimes I feel like I so easily miss things with God too. In fact, I have even asked God multiple times to speak to me through a billboard because if he didn’t, I would probably miss Him or something He was saying! How ironic of me. We see this in our text, Mark 8:1-21 and Matthew 16:1-12. Jesus is with His disciples in the midst of a large crowd that was hungry. Jesus asks His disciples how much food they have with them and they reply, “7 loaves.” With that and a few small fish, Jesus went to work. He gave thanks to the Father and broke it and he fed the 4,000 with Him. I look at this and think that surely everyone in the crowd would see this miracle and know that Jesus was the Messiah, the Promised One to come. How could you miss that?
However, it’s not long into our text that the Pharisees show up on the scene and begin questioning Jesus and asking Him to prove Himself. “Show us a sign from heaven!” they said. But Jesus replied, “Why do you ask for a sign?” Had He not just shown them His identity by feeding the 4,000 people? Had He given the Pharisees every reason to look at Him and know that He is the Son of God, the long-awaited King? They were looking for Him but had completely missed Him.
This doesn’t just happen with the Pharisees.
I have people in circles of mine that have asked God for a sign – anything to show Himself. I have done it myself, not realizing that He already has revealed Himself and I can trust in Him.
In Psalm 19:1, Scripture tells us that “The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” In Luke 19:40 Jesus tells us that even if His disciples keep quiet about who He is, “the stones will cry out.” In John 17, Jesus tells us that people will come to know Him because He sent His disciples out to tell the world about him. All of creation tells of who God is; it all reveals His character and His identity. So why do we continue to ask for signs? How many more can we look at before truth is realized?
There will always be hungry people.
There will always be people asking for God to give them signs, to make His presence known.
How do I know? Because I am one of them.
I pray that when I am hungry and when I ask for signs from God that…
My hunger would always be first for the Word of God.
My curiosity and desire for God’s presence would always point me back to Scripture, for it is there that I will find Him faithful to His people and His promises.
