Nov. 19 Signs to Confirm Faith

November 19 - Signs to Confirm Faith

I've spent a lot of time wondering whether or not God is real. Does He care enough about me to answer my prayers? Am I praying correctly so that He will answer? Why won't He just show me what the answers are to my questions! On and on and on.

Now, in reality, most of these question come up when I'm frustrated. In my normal existence, I'm very confident of God's presence in my life, but sometimes I just need a concrete response to my queries.

He actually did that a lot in the Bible. For me it is good to remind myself that God revealed Himself to His people through signs that seemed to give them courage to proceed.

For instance, Gideon needed an answer and God answered by making the floor dry, but a wool fleece wet with dew and the next night, the ground was wet, but the fleece was dry. (Judges 6:36-40)

King Jeroboam had built shrines to other gods and finally a prophet came to him. He prophesied that a sign would come from the Lord - the altar would be split apart and the ashes on it poured out. (1 Kings 13:3). Funny thing. Jeroboam refused to believe, he tried to have the prophet killed ... the altar split.

King Hezekiah needed a sign from the Lord that He would do as He promised. Isaiah told Hezekiah that the Lord would send a sign and that Hezekiah could choose. Should a shadow move forward or backward. Hezekiah choose backward, the shadow moved back ten steps on a stairway. The Lord sent a sign to prove His faithfulness. (2 Kings 20:8-11)

In Isaiah 7:14, we find the promise of the coming Messiah. This was a sign that the entirety of Israel would be watching for, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel."

The angel of the Lord announced the birth of the Messiah to the shepherds with the words, This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

In scripture, prophets and angels announce the signs that reveal the Lord. It might be easier for us to recognize them if we had those intermediaries pointing the way for us, but the Lord does give us signs. There are miracles and wonders that He performs around us, for us and through us. But now, we have to actually pay attention and recognize them for what they are.