Signs

SIGNS

By

Dee Dee Ashenfelter

It has been a week! With the time change and the rain – so much rain – it is good to see the sun out this morning. Steam is rising from the drenched . . . everything! Our dog, Ayla is lying in the sunniest spot in the yard, with her back pressed against the warm wooden fence, eyes half closed, relishing the heat just as thankful as the rest of us for the sunny day. We have all been struggling with the doldrums, anxiety, and lack of any oomph, and she has been no exception, acting especially crabby the last few days. It looks like sunny days for the rest of the week so we can all dry out and get a healthy dose of vitamin D. I am thankful for the rain, especially since we haven’t had any for a while, but I am surely grateful to see the sun again. I love how God set everything in motion in a way that is dependable – like knowing the sun will return after the rain . . . eventually.

There is a song our congregation likes to sing titled, “My God is Real” by Kenneth Morris. The chorus goes like this:

My God is real; real in my soul.

My God is real for He has washed and made me whole.

His love for me is like pure gold.

My God is real for I can feel Him in my soul.

If you have been saved, you get it. IYKYK, right? But I would like to add, there are a million more ways to know that God is real and if people are paying attention, they will see them.

Jeremiah 29:13                                                                                      “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

David and I recently returned from a road trip. Although it’s nice to get away for a few days, these trips can be stressful because you can’t predict exactly how things are going to go. Even with the navigation systems we have today, if you’re not paying attention to the signs along the way, you may find yourself off course or, worse, lost. Signs provide important information about road construction (which is inevitable), the location of the next stop, and the direction to take. If you aren’t watchful, you might have to wait another 100 miles for a bathroom or gas station, or you could even end up in a collision in a construction zone.

Although God does not provide actual billboards or road signs declaring his existence, He has placed signs that are still just as obvious.

The Signs in Creation

Nature is amazing, isn’t it? It is so complex and diverse, and yet we find patterns and predictability in everything. For example: plants need carbon dioxide to live and release oxygen. People and animals need oxygen to live and release carbon dioxide. Day follows night and night follows day, both playing an equally important role to life on Earth. Like things create like things across all realms. Plants, animals, and people are dependent on each other for food. All the medications and treatments we have come from nature itself. The list goes on.

(Check out Genesis 1:1 – 2:2)

How could all of this come from a chaotic cataclysmic event? It doesn’t make sense. Order cannot be created by chaos. Our earth, better our universe, was created by intelligent design with intention.

1 Corinthians 14:33

“ For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”

Psalms 19:1

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”

Not only did God create the things we see and observe in nature, but also the invisible things like gravity and magnetism. Did you know that if the earth’s tilt changed, or it spun slower or faster, or if it were a little closer or farther away from the sun, it would change everything as we know it? Earth is the only planet that sustains life, and it is perfectly held in place by God’s power.

Colossians 1:16 - For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

Signs in Prophecies Fulfilled

The Bible is chocked full of prophecies. It begins right off in Genesis with the first prophecy of Jesus coming and victory over Satan.

Genesis 3:13-14                     

“And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed . . . And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

It ends in Revelation describing Christ’s ultimate defeat of Satan during his second coming.  

Revelation 20: 7-10

“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

The first prophecy has been fulfilled as most of the other prophecies outlined in the Bible including a more recent one - within the last eighty years – about Israel becoming a nation. The children of Israel had escaped slavery in Egypt and were led by Moses to a land promised by God where they would establish themselves as a nation. However, Moses also prophesied their future scattering before they ever even entered Canaan.

Deuteronomy 4:25-27

 When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you

It seemed like the children of Israel just couldn’t resist worshipping idols. However, later, Ezekial prophesied the good news about their eventual gathering as a nation.

Ezekial 34:13

 “And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.”

And, in 1948, this prophecy was fulfilled when Israel was officially declared a nation once again.

While some prophecies have not yet been fulfilled, the track record of all the other prophesies that came to pass (approximately 2,000 according to a web search) can reassure us that those, too, will be fulfilled.

Signs in Our Spiritual Life

Our spiritual journey begins even before we are saved, when we feel the convicting power of the Holy Spirit showing us our need for salvation.

2 Corinthians 7:9-10

 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

When we ask Jesus to save us, we feel Him lift our burden of sin and replace it with joy in our heart.

1 Peter 1:8

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

As we begin our new life in Christ, the battle begins. We enter into spiritual warfare, and the battleground is our mind. Satan pulls no punches in trying to gain control. I believe this struggle is evidenced by the rise in mental health issues. There is an initiative now to begin screening children as young as four years old in the public-school setting to detect those who need mental health support, highlighting the mental health crisis in our country.  

Ephesians 6:12 - For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

But God encourages us to be brave and strong, providing us all the tools we need to combat Satan.

Ephesians 6:13-18

 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God:  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Though we may battle Satan for a while here on earth, we know that God has already declared the victory.

Lastly, as we get older, we have the unique advantage of being able to look back on our life. It becomes easier to see how the Holy Spirit has guided us. We see it in unexpected detours that took us on different but better paths, in unanswered prayers that turned out to be blessings, and in promptings we did not understand at the time but make perfect sense to us now.

So, just like there are road signs that point out attractions, destinations, and construction zones, there are signs of God’s existence everywhere - in creation, in prophecies, and in our spiritual life. Just as we can depend on the sun returning after the rain, we can know without a doubt that God is real.  And when our belief is cemented and our doubts are wiped away, how marvelous the Word of God becomes. Its promises become dear, its characters become real and relatable, and the commandments become desires. And we can move forward in the battle furthering the Kingdom of God.