Asking for a Sign, Luke 11:16

"And others, tempting Him, sought of Him a sign from heaven."

     In verses fourteen and fifteen, we see Jesus casting out a demon from a mute person, thus healing the mute person and enabling him to speak. Though this was truly a miracle and something wonderful, some of the people around Him murmured and said that Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Satan. Still others hardened their hearts against Him and asked for a sign from heaven to prove that Jesus was indeed who He claimed to be. Yet, as Jesus went on to say, no one under the power of Satan can cast out Satan, for a kingdom divided against itself will not stand. And as for the others-- Jesus had just performed an amazing miracle by casting out a demon and thus healing a mute person. Was this not a "sign from heaven" to prove who He was?

     I think in our own lives, no matter how closely we are walking with the Lord, we tend to have a little bit of this attitude in us as well. We've seen the Lord work miracles in our lives, we've seen His awesome power, mercy, and grace. But we, like Gideon, put out fleeces so that what the Lord has already revealed to us may be affirmed. We know in our hearts what the Lord has told us, but we may not be ready to fully accept it on faith alone; we need some sort of verifiable evidence that this is truly was the Lord speaking. Our motive is to truly seek the Lord and follow His will, but we want to make sure it truly is His will that we are stepping out into in faith.
     But how often do go a little too far in asking for a sign and begin to tempt the Lord? The Greek word translated "tempt" in the King James is "peirazo", which can mean to try whether a thing can be done; to try, make trial of, test: for the purpose of ascertaining his quantity, or what he thinks, or how he will behave himself; in a good sense or in a bad sense (to test one maliciously, craftily to put to the proof his feelings or judgments); also to try or test one's faith, virtue, character, by enticement to sin.
     I think many times we step over the line of sincerely wanting to make sure that what we're stepping into is the Lord's will and start getting into doubting the goodness of God, the sincereity of God, or the things God has shown us. He gives us a "sign", in that He does something wonderful or miraculous in our lives, and then we disregard that amazing work of the Holy Spirit and ask for some small or insignificant sign-- something obvious and blatant that we can cling to, as if this would stengthen our faith or be the one thing that would affirm the Lord's will to us. But if our hearts are so hardened that we don't even recognize the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, what makes us thing that we are going to accept some small token of His power and step out to do the Lord's will on that?
     Our hearts can become so hardened and so calloused to the working of God in our lives that we fail to see God working in the miraculous and start looking for Him in the coincidental and superstitious areas of life. "If this light turns green right now, that means You want me to take the job at that company, Lord." Or, we think to ourselves, "I'll know that this is Your will for me, Lord, if tomorrow I wake up and this particular song plays on the radio." But what if the light does turn green? What if the song does play? What will you do then? Will you step out in faith? Probably not. You will probably say to yourself, "that could have been coincidence. Lord, if this next light turns green as well, then I'll know it's Your will", or, "if this song is playing tomorrow when my alarms goes off again I will believe You, Lord." But then the light is green again, and the song plays again. But still, you are unsure. "Lord, if it's really Your will, You will make all the lights green," or "You will make that song play on the radio every morning when my alarm goes off."
     Am I the only one who thinks this sounds utterly foolish? Yet we do this! Even Gideon, though he didn't have enough faith to stand on God's word alone, or even one one sign, stepped out in faith after two. And it's not the magic number two that caused him to step out, but simply that he finally believed God. I don't think it was necessarily the fleece that prooved to him God was in it, but that he realized that God was there, and that no matter what God would be with him, and after asking for so many signs he just felt foolish and had to step out. How many times does He have to affirm His will to you before you will accept it? How many times does He have to do a song and dance for you so that you will step out in faith? Are you actually trying to acertain the Lord's good and perfect will, or are you simply entrenched in callously trying to make God prove Himself to you?

     Walking with God and knowing Jesus, finding the Lord's good and perfect will is not about taking steps in the known and walking by what we see-- it's about walking by faith and not by sight. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). I believe that God will honor our requests for confirmation of His will, even with signs, if our motive is pure. If we are truly seeking to do His will, and we really aren't sure that what we've heard already is actually Him speaking to us-- I believe that He will affirm His will to us in order that we may step out in faith, confident that though we may not know where we are going, we know Who has told us to go. But if He has answered us time and again, working marvelous things in our lives that are plain to see and yet we ignore them and call them coincidence, thus putting down the working of God in our lives... I don't think we can expect a loving and helpful sign from above to boost our faith, but rather a (loving) rebuke from the Lord for not having any faith. "O, ye of little faith... Why did you doubt?" He still loves us, of course, and is not mad at us for asking for signs or having no faith... But I'm sure He would rather we get on with His glorious plan-- He wants to bless us, not prove Himself over and over! He wants us to trust Him, not test Him.

     God has so many wonderful things in store for us. His plans are of peace and not evil, to give us a future and a hope. He has nothing but good intentions for us, and the ability to bring to pass those good intentions as well (for with God, all things are possible). When we refuse to accept that which the Lord has put before us, we are just being foolish and hard-hearted like the Pharisees, who, though seeing the dead raised and the blind made whole, asked Jesus for signs again and again to prove to them who He was. Even after Jesus Himself was raised from the dead, they still did not believe.
     Jesus, in telling the story of the poor Lazarus and the rich man, said that they (the rich man's family) had all they needed in the law and the prophets to lead them to salvation; if they did not believe that, they would not believe even if one were to come back from the dead. And truly, if we fail to recognize and accept what the Lord has already shown us and done in us, we are not going to believe no matter how many green lights we hit or how many times that song plays on the radio. It's not about signs, it's about faith. It's about trusting in the One who's sending you-- Jesus Christ. Stop sitting on your butt asking for a sign and step out in faith! You won't get anywhere staying put in fear. He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.
     We can have confidence in Christ-- we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. And if we step out and we're wrong, He's faithful to redirect us. But it's easier to redirect a moving car than a parked car! Have faith. Trust God. Step out.