Signs of God

There is lots of irony in today’s Scripture story (Matthew 12:38-42).  The religious leaders of Jesus’ time wants a sign from Jesus (12:38), but the irony is that they are blind to the many signs of God’s kingdom He has been showing them all along.  Therefore, it is also quite ironic that these religious leaders will be shamed at God’s judgment day by pagans who did recognize God’s signs.  Jesus gives two examples:  the Ninevites who believed Jonah (12:41) and the Queen of the South who accepted Solomon’s wisdom (12:42).  Instead of taking Jesus on His word that He is the Messiah, these religious leaders want a miraculous sign.  Maybe that is a big part of our problem today as well.  We expect God to be some Holy Magician.  Only the sensational and extraordinary will work for us.  We have trouble living from God’s Word and the promises embedded in his Word.  And because we don’t trust his Word, we also don’t see the many signs of His presence and activity in the ordinary routines of our lives.  We look for something more than the obvious.  The three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (as Jonah was in the belly of the fish) refers to the sufficient sign of Jesus’ death and resurrection (12:40).  If that is not a good enough sign to make us believe, then no other miracle will get us there.  Let the Word of God refocus our eyes to see the living Christ present in our houses, working places, neighborhoods and towns today!

I know… therefore I will see

When the going gets tough, the not-so-tough gain their toughness through knowing and seeing.  In Job 19:23-27, knowing leads to seeing.  Job says, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth” (19:25).  Job’s knowledge is knowledge in faith despite evidence to the contrary in his desperate situation.  But it is also knowledge in faith that points to a seeing in faith.  Because he knows that God is alive and in control, he can also proclaim that “I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes” (19:26-27).  It is the realness of God’s presence – of knowing for sure that He lives in a way that it is as if I can see Him with my own eyes – that gives strength and brings toughness in difficult circumstances.