Does God Send Signs?

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You know how some people believe a cardinal is a sign of their departed loved one? Or God can send you a message about something in a dream? There are so many beliefs such as these that people cling to to give them hope and peace.

So, my son and I kept seeing so many blue jays the other day and I jokingly said that maybe it’s a sign that the Blue Jays will win the World Series. It was a lighthearted comment, but it made me ponder whether God does still send us signs, and if so, what might they look like?

We see in Scripture that he does provide signs to his people (I’m thinking particularly of the story of Gideon’s fleece), but was that more of an Old Testament occurrence, or does God still work in this way today?

Have YOU ever received a sign from the Lord? What did it look like?

This article has some helpful points on the topic of God sending signs. Most notably, that the biggest “sign” he sends believers is prompting from the Holy Spirit.

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Why look for signs, we have the bible and God speaks to us through it.

Matthew 16 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.

2 He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ 3 and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.

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This is such an interesting question, one I’ve wrestled with too. On one hand, we’re told not to chase after signs just for reassurance, like in the passage from Matthew. But on the other hand, the Bible is full of moments where God does speak through dreams, nature, and even animals (hello, Balaam’s donkey).

I’ve had times when something happened, maybe a perfectly timed word from a friend, or a line in a song during a hard moment, and it felt like more than coincidence. I don’t always know if it was a “sign,” but it drew my heart back to God.

I wonder if the real key is being open without being dependent, letting signs, if they come, point us back to truth, rather than become the truth itself.

Curious what others think. Have you ever had a moment that felt like a nudge from God?

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I prefer not to look for signs. If I am looking than I don’t have confidence. God wants us to have confidence so if a sign shows up, it wasn’t something I was expecting or looking for but I know when I see it, hear it or feel it. I also believe if I am on the right path, things are simple or natural. If I I doing what God wants me to do it comes with ease, that can be a sign to me.

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Amen @Reine in full agreement with you here.

This is one of the most important questions in the Christian life. Many believers doubt their salvation because they don’t see signs of genuine faith in their lives. There are those who say we should never doubt our decision to follow Christ, but the Bible encourages us to examine ourselves to see if we are truly “in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Thankfully, God has given us ample instruction for how we can know for sure that we have eternal life. The first epistle of John was actually written for that purpose, as it states in 1 John 5:13, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

There is a series of tests in 1 John that we can use to examine ourselves and our faith. As we look at them, remember that no one will perfectly fulfill all of them all the time, but they should reveal a consistent trend that characterizes our lives as we grow in grace.

  1. Do you enjoy having fellowship with Christ and His redeemed people? (1 John 1:3)
  2. Would people say you walk in the light, or walk in the darkness? (1 John 1:6-7)
  3. Do you admit and confess your sin? (1 John 1:8)
  4. Are you obedient to God’s Word? (1 John 2:3-5)
  5. Does your life indicate you love God rather than the world? (1 John 2:15)
  6. Is your life characterized by “doing what is right”? (1 John 2:29)
  7. Do you seek to maintain a pure life? (1 John 3:3)
  8. Do you see a decreasing pattern of sin in your life? (1 John 3:5-6) [Note: this refers to not continuing in sin as a way of life, not a total absence of sin.]
  9. Do you demonstrate love for other Christians? (1 John 3:14)
  10. Do you “walk the walk,” versus just “talking the talk”? (1 John 3:18-19)
  11. Do you maintain a clear conscience? (1 John 3:21)
  12. Do you experience victory in your Christian walk? (1 John 5:4)

If you are able to truthfully answer “Yes” to these questions (or a majority of them, and are working on the others), then your life is bearing the fruit of true salvation. Jesus said that it is by our fruits that we are known as His disciples (Matthew 7:20). Fruitless branches—professing believers who do not display the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) are cut off and thrown into the fire (John 15:6). A genuine faith is one that not only believes in God (the demons themselves do that - James 2:19), but leads to open confession of sin and obedience to Christ’s commands. Remember, we are saved by grace through faith, not by our works (Ephesians 2:8-9), but our works should display the reality of our salvation (James 2:17-18). Genuine saving faith will always produce works; a faith that is perpetually without works is no faith at all and saves no one.

In addition to these confirmations, we need to remember God’s promises and the reality of the war we are in. Satan is just as real as Jesus Christ, and he is a formidable enemy of our souls. When we turn to Christ, Satan will look for every opportunity to deceive and defeat us. He will try to convince us that we are unworthy failures or that God has given up on us. When we are in Christ, we have the assurance that we are kept by Him. Jesus Himself prayed for us in John 17:11 that the Father would “protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one.” Again in verse 15, He prayed, “keep them from the evil one.”

In John 10:27-29, Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” If you hear and obey the voice of Jesus, then you are one of His sheep, and He will never let you go. Jesus gave a wonderful word picture here of Christians securely held within His loving hands and the Father’s almighty hands wrapping themselves around His, giving us a double assurance of eternal security.

Shalom.

J.

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Love this! I, too, have had times when I’ve experienced something that seemed to be more than a coincidence that turned my mind and heart to God. I think that’s helpful not to think of these things as signs so much, but as God allowing his marvelous Creation and timing to speak to us if we are tuned in to listen.

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Good points. It’s easy to go down a road that leads to fear and uncertainty if we’re constantly looking for signs, and we know from Scripture that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind! (2 Tim. 1:7).

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Thank you for this response! You’re so right that God does lay out for us in Scripture how we can be assured we are saved and are walking in the Spirit. That does take out a lot of the guesswork and allows us to live in victory and confidence (as opposed to fear but also pride).

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Only a pleasure @DaughterOfEve24

J.

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That’s one of my favorite stories in the OT! I thought it was crazy that he didn’t faint when the donkey spoke! Instead he has a conversation..with a talking donkey! As though a talking donkey is the most natural and normal thing that could happen in daily life! The donkey is TALKING! I still shake my head and laugh when I think about this! If my dog spoke to me I think I’d have a complete mental breakdown lol.

God is just so amazing :heart:

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God should sue dreamworks for stealing Donkey and puttin him in Shrek =^..^=

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This is a very interesting subject. Much of which seems to depend upon where our attention is focused. As believers we are instructed to love God with all of our hearts, mind, and strength. We are also instructed to hold our thoughts captive and cast down imaginations and every high thought that goes against His.

As it has been pointed out those who seek a sign will only get the sign of Jonah, but what about those who seek Jesus simply to know Him, the fellowship of His sufferings, and look for Him and expect to see resurrection power in our lives?

The answer again seems to be one of perspective. It’s not that God isn’t speaking, it’s that we don’t recognize it, and either miss it completely, or just don’t understand what is being said. Jesus said that unless we are born again we cannot see, much less enter into his kingdom.

Jesus spoke in parables (aka similitudes) so that unless someone was seeking God they would not understand. Otherwise the light that they obtain would be darkness and how great that darkness would be! We instead stumble until we are broken, receive the sign of Jonah and are born again, then the veil is rent.

While we see through a glass darkly we are still instructed to see, and to watch and pray. To suggest that he isn’t speaking to us is to do the same as the religious Pharisees, searching the scriptures for life when it was Him that they spoke of standing right in front of them.

Isaiah 8:13-22
13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
17 And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.
19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?
20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
22 And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.

Isaiah ch. 8-9 so richly speaks to this subject. I love 8:18 because it states it so precisely, yes God is not only giving us signs but we in fact are signs (and wonders)!

The testimony that he has written in our hearts and is seen through our lives is a sign and a wonder. We are like little books, and as we learn to speak His language the little things in our lives will begin to speak to us, not because they weren’t speaking before, but because we could not see them or hear them. Like the still small voice that spoke to Elijah when everything around him was fire, and earthquakes, and wind (but the Lord was not in them).

God is a Spirit and his words both written and spoken must be spiritually discerned, and complement each other (like Jesus does the Father and the Spirit and vice versa) and so we watch and pray, and he shows us the way.

Lord give us this day our daily bread, amen, and thank you!

Psalms 19:2-4
2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.