Signs Of Love

I was home with my boys today and went to check on Caleb who was sleeping in the crib.  When I walked in I saw he was sucking on two of his fingers and his hand was in the shape of the “I love you” sign.  Now I’m not about to claim that my 3 week old son is speaking in sign language, but it definitely warmed my heart and sent me running for the camera.  For me it was a sign not only of my son’s love for me, but of God’s love for us.

I’ve grown not to believe very easily in “signs.”  There are so many people that look for “signs” to guide their lives without looking for or even believing in the God who can give those signs.  Besides I don’t want to be a part of the “wicked and adulterous generation” that asks for signs.  But God can demonstrate things to us through signs.  And I believe this morning he was demonstrating his love for me through that tiny little hand.

Thinking through and meditating on Matthew 12:39, I’ve come to understand this issue of signs a little more.  It doesn’t say not to observe signs or follow them.  It says not to ask for them.  Jesus was standing right in front of them and they were asking him to put on a show so that they wouldn’t have to use their faith to believe in him.  So while we shouldn’t seek out signs as an excuse not to have faith, we can observe signs and discern in the spirit whether or not they are from God.

I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

Genesis 9:13

But if they say, “Come up to us,” we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the Lord has given them into our hands.”

1 Samuel 14:10

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.

Isaiah 7:14

He answered, “ A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign!  But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Matthew 12:39