Is it wrong to ask God for a sign? I always used to think it was because of Jesus’ words in Matthew 12:39: “He answered, ‘A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign!’”
But Isaiah 7 gives the background for Jesus’ frustration with the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees who were asking him for a sign. In those days King Ahaz was king of Judah. Ahaz was “shaken [with fear] as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind” because of an alliance that had been made two nations that were about to march against Judah. God told Ahaz not to worry, that He had it under control, and that the defeat he feared “will not take place; it will not happen.”
So God invited Ahaz to ask him for a sign, “whether in the deepest depths or the highest heights.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”
God was evidently frustrated with Ahaz’ false piety. Through Isaiah He replied to Ahaz, “Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? 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.”
Fast forward 700-some years and now the leaders of God’s people have decided to take God up on his offer of a sign. But the maddening irony of it was that the very sign that God had given to the closed-fisted Ahaz was now standing before the Jewish leaders, and they had the audacity to ask Him for a sign! He was the sign: Immanuel.
The sign that our destruction “will not happen.” The sign that our loving God has us in the palm of His hand.
God’s not opposed to giving us signs. He wants to give us signs. He gives us signs every day of our lives. The question is, do we recognize those signs?
Open our eyes, Lord. Especially during this season when we remember that You provided us salvation by sending us Your Son.
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