When you ask God for a sign from Him, what are you truly saying? Are You there God? Do You exist God? Do You truly have the power to do what I am asking? Can I trust You with my request? It might be all of the above, but we either use this phrase, or at least hear others using this phrase at various times throughout our lives. Jesus became very upset with the Pharisees when they asked Him for a sign. I wonder if we also upset God when we ask like this?

DATE WRITTEN: Tuesday, 2021-07-6
WRITTEN AT: Williams, AZ

BY: Ed Algreen

SCRIPTURE FROM: 16:1-4
TRANSLATION: New Living Translation (NLT)

BIBLE TEXT: 1 One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, demanding that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority. 2 He replied, … You know how to interpret the weather signs in the sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the signs of the times! 4 Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign……

APPLICATION: If I was at work, and was called in by the president, who built me up for a great programming project he/she had for me, but they wanted me to do a sample first, I wonder how I might feel? Perhaps like the president wasn’t sure that he/she could trust my qualifications for the job they had in mind? Perhaps they still can’t believe that I single-handedly completed other projects that they saw around the shop that had been credited to me. Or to think positively, perhaps the president just wasn’t sure what they truly wanted, and they were asking for a sample so they could tweak and build on my first output. The Pharisees were very smart scholars, but they were beginning to feel like Jesus was encroaching on their territory. The crowd was beginning to cling on to this man claiming that He was the Son of God, for He was healing their sick and performing amazing miracles in their midst. In my younger years I remember hearing young adults say to someone challenging them: ‘you think you bad, do this, or do that’! It was a dare, as they hoped to bring that person down from the lofty perception of others. I believe that Jesus went about healing and performing many other miracles out of a heart of compassion for His children that He saw hurting and in trouble. For Him to obey the Pharisees, He would then be placed in a position of a magician who could do almost anything on demand. Friends, we must always remember that God is ‘love’, so anything that He did through His Son is done out of ‘love’, not as a result of being told to do it from some earthly leader. So let me suggest that perhaps the next time we are tempted to ask God for a sign, that instead, we look for ways to express love, worship and praise to our Father. Although He already knows what we need, try asking Him to show you the way to live according to His will and in a way that is pleasing to Him. Share with Him the dilemma you have of knowing what to do in a situation, and ask Him for His guidance. Share with Him about your concern for the health of your loved one and ask Him to help you accept whatever His will is for that individual. Share your hearts desire for the dire situation of a loved one, but try saying what Jesus did in the garden as He prayed to the Father to remove the cup of suffering from Him ‘Not my will, but thine be done’. Friends, our God is able to do way more than anything we could think or imagine. There is no need to ask Him for a sign, He could do it. Trust in Him with all your heart, soul and mind, and all these things will be given to you, child of God!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: No need for a sign, we know without a shadow of doubt that our our God can do all things through Christ in whom we place our faith and trust.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, we say we believe, yet we question Your abilities and Your awesome power. Please forgive us when we doubt and when we question Your ability. Please give us the desire to spend more and more time in Your Word, as You have filled it with great truth and amazing wonders of our Creator. There is no greater book for us to read, and our instructions from our Almighty God is very evident throughout it’s pages. Lord, we need You every minute of every day. Please draw us unto Yourself so that You might work miraculously through us. Lord we believe, please help us in our unbelief and doubt. AMEN!