The Lord will give you a sign.

Isaiah 7: 14

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel."

How many times in your life have you wanted just that, for the Lord to give you a sign? We want God to show us what to do so that we don’t make a mistake, yet so many times God gives us signs and we don’t see them. Is it because we are expecting the signs to be of the spectacular variety of the Bible: A virgin giving birth to God’s son, Angels appearing, manna from heaven, seas parting and stars leading? Yet, God does not always work in the spectacular, sometimes God comes quietly. When the Lord appeared to Elijah in 1 Kings 19: 11-12, it wasn’t in the great and powerful wind, an earthquake or a fire, it was in a gentle whisper.

Throughout time, God has provided signs of his majesty and wonders, yet we don’t see or understand their meaning. Even when Jesus was with us, people witnessed miracles and still asked for more. Why is it so difficult for us to believe that God can do anything? God shared signs of the coming Messiah years before Jesus was born. The Israelites knew the prophesies, yet when they were fulfilled they missed it. Why? Was it because it wasn’t what they expected- an infant king, born to an unwed mother, born in a stable, visited by shepherds? A woman who was raised as a Jew recently read the New Testament for the first time and with tears in her eyes said, “How could we have missed him”. We will miss him too if we don’t learn to trust that God works in the everyday little coincidences as well as in the spectacular. Remember to listen for God not only in the wind, waves and fire, but in that still, small voice. Sometimes all it takes is to be quiet enough to hear.

Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for all your amazing signs and wonders and yet we are so sorry that we miss most of them. Help us to be watchful so that we don’t miss you because we are too busy to hear you whisper in our hearts. Guide us through the Christmas season, so that this Christmas will be the one that we actually witness your special miracle. Amen