Session 20

When it’s time to stop asking for a sign

From Mark: A 6-Week Devotional

In Mark 8:1-13, Jesus stops teaching a crowd and attends to their needs by creating a feast for 4,000 people from a few fish and seven loaves of bread. The event was miraculous, and it showed that God knows our needs and is concerned enough to get involved. Yet the Pharisees still asked Jesus to prove Himself with a sign from heaven.

If we look at our lives, how often do we do the same thing? Instead of following through on what God has already told us, we’ll wait for a sign from heaven. We’ll feel God telling us to take a mission trip, and He’ll send us a way to make the money, either through extra hours or side jobs, but we’ll continue asking for a sign that God wants us to go.

Too often, we’ll spend our time asking God to prove Himself through signs instead of positioning ourselves to trust God completely. God works in our lives in tremendous ways. He heals our diseases, provides our meals, and forgives our sins. But God also works through everyday circumstances.

Asking for a sign shows that we’ve already decided to not believe that God can provide. When we’re in that place, a sign will not change our minds or convince us.

We will never see the reality of what God is doing when we are constantly asking Him to prove Himself. God has already proven Himself faithful through Jesus. Everything that happens in our life is a way that God proves Himself faithful. We just have to recognize His presence in it.

Reflect:

• What’s one way God has shown Himself faithful this week? This month? This year?
• Is there a next step you’re putting off because you’re waiting for God to prove Himself? How can you take a step of obedience today?