the susie solution

Last December, I got to see my niece sign in a Christmas cantata.  That’s not a typo.  I don’t mean “sing”.  I mean SIGN.  You see, Alyssa was completing a degree on her way to a career as an American Sign Language interpreter, and as part of her efforts, she volunteered to be part of a choir that signed the cantata while the regular choir sang it. 

It has been fascinating to learn about ASL through Alyssa’s hands.  Some signs have a traceable connection to their origin; for example, the sign for “woman” is reminiscent of the bonnet strings she would have worn in days gone by, “man” of the hat he would tip to the ladies.  Others bear no particular connection to the word or concept they represent.  There may even be multiple options for how to sign a particular word.  Regions use “slang” signs for local cities.  Someone from the Washington west coast visiting New York would have to spell out S-e-a-t-t-l-e rather than using the colloquial sign, and the same visitor wouldn’t recognize the New Yorker’s, ahem, “shorthand” for Brooklyn.  Different countries have their own sign languages.  If you haven’t been taught which signs mean what, you can go hilariously wide of the mark trying to guess their meaning.

Watching the sidelines at baseball games.  Since the coach doesn’t want the other team to know what he’s telling the pitcher, he’ll perform a whole series of often comica- looking gestures.  Sometimes he’s joined by another coach or a player likewise doing (other) gestures.  The pitcher has been told which person to watch, and he knows which of the gestures actually mean something.  To the rest of us, it’s just an amusing show that looks something like a coordination test – or something a cop has you do if he suspects your sobriety. 

When fellowship with God was broken after Adam and Eve left the Garden, and man began creating his own religions, one of the most common elements involved reading “signs”, also called “omens”.   Elaborate systems were developed for reading meaning into specific weather events, the entrails of sacrificed animals, bones thrown like dice.  Perhaps three buzzards flying overhead meant “death is approaching”, while a dove in an apple tree meant “you’re sure to succeed in your venture”.   The alignment of the stars, the appearance of meteors, eclipses – all were subject to interpretation as signs portending certain outcomes or in which guidance was to be found for determining one’s course of action.  Such sign reading has remained a hallmark of human culture through all of history, sometimes done in earnest, sometimes with a laugh.  (Broken any mirrors lately?)  Such sign reading makes life kind of like following one of those diagnostic charts.  “Do you have a fever?  Yes – go on to next question.  No – return to start.”   

Before the Israelites entered Canaan, God gave them very blunt instructions about reading such “sign language”:  Don’t.  Period.  Commands such as “There shall not be found among you anyone who … practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens … for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord” are repeated a number of times.  Pretty strong language.   Through Judges and the books of the Kings of Israel, you can see the results that followed when the people followed the words of the prophets of God and when they sought that of the prophets of anyone else.  

Sadly, many Christians still do much the same kind of sign reading, only we “holy-fy” it by ascribing the “signs” to God.  Something we want badly comes up on a good sale.  Bingo!  Must be a sign that God wants us to have it.  We meet someone who seems to meet all our wish list for a desirable mate, so that must be a sign that God wants us to jump right into a relationship.  A business opportunity lands in our lap.  Must be a sign we’re supposed to do it.  Or conversely, a door shuts.  Must mean we’re not to go that direction.

Now, any and all of these may, in fact, be perfectly appropriate actions to take.  He may want us to have the sale item.  The person may be Mr./Miss Right.  The business may be successful.  But if we are simply interpreting opportunity as a “sign”, we are doing what God told Israel not to do.  It’s dangerous!  Remember when Jonah decided to run away from God?  There was a ship waiting in the harbor and a favorable wind!  What about that shut door?  It may mean we should give up on that direction – or it may be that the Enemy is working and we should pray our way past Him, or maybe we’re just supposed to wait awhile before trying again. 

But wait – according to Scripture, didn’t God use signs?  He did, in two ways.  In most cases, God originated a sign to confirm a promise or an announcement.  The rainbow appeared and He told Noah that it was a sign of His covenant to never again flood the earth.  The angel announced the Savior’s birth and said, “This shall be a sign unto you….”   In other cases, He said, “When you see this sign happen, then this is what you are to do.”   He gave the pillar of fire, and when it moved, the Israelites were to move; when it stayed put, they were to do the same.  The crucial thing is that He directly or through His acknowledged prophets, told the people involved the sign and its significance either ahead of time or as it appeared.  He never left it up to the people to interpret what a sign meant.     

There are also other cases where God did not institute a sign, but honored a sincere request for guidance by giving one.   God told Moses that He would give guidance through the “urim and thumim” that the priests were to wear, apparently something used akin to a consecrated coin flip.  Jonathan is the best example of an individual asking for and receiving guidance.  Notice that the terms of the sign were laid out ahead of time, and were expressed in unequivocal terms.  If the enemy said to Jonathan, “We’ll come down to you”, Jon was to hightail it back to camp.  If the enemy said, “Come on up!”?  God was already holding up Jon’s hand and announcing, “And the winner of this round is ….”   

If we have given appropriate prayer and thought to our ways, yet still find ourselves in a quandary, and so sincerely pray that He would give us guidance through our circumstances – as well as through other confirmations – then doors that shut or close, people that come into our lives, or outcomes of events may, indeed by given as signs, but such signs shouldn’t be our first resort or expectation.   The majority of His leading in Scripture clearly came through direct guidance.  Jesus said, “My sheep know my voice.”  The more closely we walk with Him, the more familiar His voice becomes, and the easier it becomes to recognize and follow it.

If we do decide to ask for signs, then we need to keep certain things in mind.

When I was a child, I was fascinated by stories of unbelievers who had prayed for, and received, a sign that God was there.  So, I would frequently sit on my bike by an intersection and say, “God, if You’re real, make the next car that passes a red one.”   Not surprisingly, I never did get a red one!  Not because God wasn’t there, but because I didn’t need that sign; I just wanted it for my own gratification so I could glory in having such a cool story to tell.  God is under no obligation to give us a sign simply because we ask for one – either in a case like this, or to avoid having to really work through a decision.   

If we pray for a sign to choose between two options, we better be sure we’ve been right to narrow it to those two in the first place.  If He’s trying to tell us “Africa”, but we ask for Him to give us a sign to choose between “Mexico” and “Thailand”, we aren’t likely to get a good answer.     

Signs aren’t for things that God has already made clear.  If we ask for a sign regarding something God has already spoken on, essentially asking “Did You really say…?”, we risk getting an answer from someone other than God.   More than a few believers have asked for a sign that their sin was ok – and got it.  Adultery?  Living together without marriage?  Stealing?  False religions?  I’ve heard stories of signs of all kinds supposedly given by God to affirm that He approved of things that clearly, completely, and unequivocally violate His Word. 

It’s also easy to pray for a sign, and then, if the answer turns out to not fit with what we think the answer should have been, to decide to ignore or reinterpret the answer.  I always think of a scene I happened to catch from a movie years ago as I was channel surfing.  A guy’s wife had died, and he had vowed to never marry again.  Then he meets this knockout.  So he goes and stands in front of his dead wife’s portrait and says, “Honey, I know I said I’d never marry another, but you know, I’ve met this amazing woman and I really want to spend the rest of my life with her, since you’re gone.  But I need to know that you’re ok with it, so please, give me some kind of sign.  Any little thing.”  He continues on in that vein all through what is to come.  As soon as he first mentions a sign, the lights flicker.  Then clocks chime wildly.  The portrait begins to spin.  Then doors and windows fly open.  A wind begins to blow, first floofing his hair and setting the potted plants dancing, then growing in strength until the it’s absolutely howling, the furniture is flying and the guy is holding on to the door frame to keep from being blown away.  It all dies down with the house a wreck, and it’s quiet again – and the guy is still carrying on, “Just any little sign.  No matter how small.  I’ll be watching.”  The scene is tragically funny – but it’s not funny to watch a believer (or even a whole church) act the same thing out.  If we ask for a sign, we better be serious about honoring the answer.   The Pharisees said they wanted a sign so that they could believe, but in fact, there was no sign that God could give them that would have convinced them.  There were plenty of signs available; they chose not to see.   

If I try to read Alyssa’s hands without her telling me what she’s saying, I end up giving her a good laugh, but there’s no harm done.  If we don’t follow the Biblical precedents for signs, and attempt to read God like non-believers read signs of “fate”, we risk potentially serious consequences.

We may look for God in the signs of the earthquake and the whirlwind – the world certainly does – but only we believers have the privilege of hearing His still, small voice.  Let’s take full advantage of that guidance!