Is that a Sign?

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Experts say that one contributor to the mental health issues in our society is the way we post to social media and wait for likes, or send texts and wait for replies.  We then analyze and over-analyze the replies, comments and the number of likes and start thinking irrationally.  This week, I observed something I thought was a sign from God. In awe, I texted a friend who then replied with the laughing emoji.  I thought, “I was...serious! I believe in signs, don’t you?” Then I wondered, “Am I the only person who believes in signs? Am I crazy to believe in signs?”  And here you see the initial stages of a mental health emergency.

To prove I wasn’t crazy, I went to the scriptures.  The Bible references signs in many different verses. The rainbow after the great flood was a sign. God said, “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” (Genesis 9:13)  Moses received signs. (Exodus 4) Moses was afraid the Israelites would not believe the Lord actually appeared to him.  He told Moses to throw his staff to the ground, it became a snake. God then told Moses to pick it up by its tail, at which time the snake became a staff again.  The star that lead the three wisemen to baby Jesus was a sign. “...behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.” (Matthew 2:10)  The writing on the wall (Daniel 5:5-6) was a sign.  Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.”

In last week’s Bible study, Saul was searching for a sign (1 Samuel 28), “And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets.”  (In that day, priests carried urim and thummin in their breastplate to help them determine God’s will.)   To someone unfamiliar with this text, one explanation might be that God doesn’t give signs on command.  That may be true, but Previously, in 1 Samuel 16:14, we read, “But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him.”  It makes sense that later, when Saul desires a sign from God, God does not give him one. Saul has rejected God and so God’s spirit has ceased communication with him.  
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I believe God gives signs to those who believe in His awesome power.  I believe He gives us signs that we are (or are not) moving within His plans.  Signs may show us God’s affirmation or distaste for our behavior, motives, or walk.  I believe in signs, not as a superstitious person might, but as a form of communication between those of us here on Earth, and God the Father.  Several years ago, we had chosen a date for our wedding and when I went to reserve the venue and pay the deposit, I was told that I was in luck--they were running a no deposit special and I was there on the final day of the special.  To me that was a sign from God that we were on the right track.  Hebrews 4:12 tells us, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”  As a living and active Lord, it is not crazy to believe God is with us at all times showing us His ways.


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​Kim