Remember the "Magic 8 Ball"? With its phrases like, "It is Certain", "You May Rely on It", "Outlook Good", "Ask Again Later", "Concentrate and Ask Again", and my all time favorite "Very Doubtful". Keep that in mind through our devotion this morning.
Judges 6:36-40
And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
This is an amazing story about a man who was facing something difficult in his life and asked God for a sign. God chose to answer him in the very way that he asked. God uses signs. Many times, especially in the Old Testament, God moved in this manner. God even sent the star as a sign over His Son. Not that the sign was the miracle, it only pointed to the miracle and confirmed it.
We today act in the same way as Gideon. We feel God moving in our lives and then ask Him to send us a sign. Some have even asked God to move in their most darkest times by closing their eyes and pointing to a page of the Bible to read a powerful scripture. Please don't misunderstand me this morning. I do not doubt that God can move in that way, He has done great things for me in this manner. But there is a problem with this ALWAYS being the way we think.
Look at this scripture and keep in mind that scripture will never argue against scripture. The people wanted a sign about the end times and listen to what Jesus said about always seeking signs.
Luke 11:29
And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation:they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.
You see if we are always the kind of people that close our eyes and point, look into the sky for a certain shaped cloud or some other kind of signs, then where is our faith? If we constantly seek signs in order to believe God then we will become as the Jewish nation did. They became guilty of placing their faith in the signs themselves instead of the God who sent the signs. Don't be guilty of placing your faith in signs but rather keep your faith in God who sent the sign for your direction.
The GREATEST sign you could ever receive has already been given. It is the awesome Word of God! Why spend so much time seeking after more signs when God has already given us the signs in His Word?
Thank you Lord for your Word. Thank you for allowing me to live in such a time that there is no confusion for my direction because it is all written in your Word.
John 20:30-31
And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
