When we Want a Sign
Matthew 16:1 (ESV) And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
I was thinking about this today: what could God do that would actually satisfy the unconvinced?
We all have doubts... questions... We all struggle with the big "whys?" of life.
So many demand God "prove" Himself.
What "sign" could or should God do so that doubters might believe?
I don't think there is one. People are far too fussy and fickle.
The atheist has decided to believe there is no God. They do this because of their perceived "lack" of evidence. Or some disbelieve due to the enormous amount of evidence to the contrary: Starving children in Somalia, innocence lost in America, women tortured and enslaved all over. Where is God? Why won't He step in? He must not exist.
What does He have to do?
- Stop the murder from happening in the next town tomorrow?
- Cease all killings in Sudan by Sunday?
- Or how about just save your neighbor from that really bad decision?
Then, should God live up to your expectations, a precedent has been set. Who else does God need to acquiesce to gain acceptability? Where does it end? How much does He have to interfere to satisfy us?
It would never end. And God knows better than we - just how terribly impossible we are to please.
And God is not a performer.
Instead, Jesus says I will go to the cross. That's the sign. And the world will hear about it - 2000 years and running - and people's hearts will be changed. And the church will be built and the gates of hell will not... prevail (a few verses later in Matthew 16).
PRAYER:
Thank you for the Cross. Thank you for your Love - shed abroad in my heart. Thank you for coming close to Me.
Amen.
I was thinking about this today: what could God do that would actually satisfy the unconvinced?
We all have doubts... questions... We all struggle with the big "whys?" of life.
So many demand God "prove" Himself.
What "sign" could or should God do so that doubters might believe?
I don't think there is one. People are far too fussy and fickle.
The atheist has decided to believe there is no God. They do this because of their perceived "lack" of evidence. Or some disbelieve due to the enormous amount of evidence to the contrary: Starving children in Somalia, innocence lost in America, women tortured and enslaved all over. Where is God? Why won't He step in? He must not exist.
What does He have to do?
- Stop the murder from happening in the next town tomorrow?
- Cease all killings in Sudan by Sunday?
- Or how about just save your neighbor from that really bad decision?
Then, should God live up to your expectations, a precedent has been set. Who else does God need to acquiesce to gain acceptability? Where does it end? How much does He have to interfere to satisfy us?
It would never end. And God knows better than we - just how terribly impossible we are to please.
And God is not a performer.
Instead, Jesus says I will go to the cross. That's the sign. And the world will hear about it - 2000 years and running - and people's hearts will be changed. And the church will be built and the gates of hell will not... prevail (a few verses later in Matthew 16).
PRAYER:
Thank you for the Cross. Thank you for your Love - shed abroad in my heart. Thank you for coming close to Me.
Amen.
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