Give Me a Sign

As I was browsing in Facebook one afternoon, I saw a status update of one of my friends. She said “Give me a sign”. And below that status, another friend commented “beware, the devil hears you too.” It took a moment for that statement to sink in to me. How do we really know if the sign we just asked for came from God or from the devil?

As I reflected, my thoughts went to the wise King Solomon in the bible. He was a young king. To the standards of their time, “young” means naïve – inexperienced. As a young king though, he did not ask for a sign on how to rule his kingdom. He asked instead for wisdom. To this day, he is known as the wisest king who lived. (I’m not of course comparing him to Christ the King.)

My thoughts wandered through time. I remembered the times when I asked for signs. An example of a sign I asked was “Kapag dumaan yung truck sa harap ko, ito ang gagawin ko…” (When the truck passes in front of me, this is what I will do…) I know it might sound silly but I did ask for that sign when I was younger.

How do we know, really, if the signs are devil-planted or God-planted? My thought on this one is this: God embedded in the universe natural signs.

These natural signs are like symptoms

Four days ago, my brother and I experienced food poisoning. After eating our food, we suddenly felt sick. We had headaches, fever, and rashes all over our body. The headaches, fever and rashes are signs that we have taken something that our bodies did not want.

Signs can be as simple as that.

You might be telling me now, “that’s common sense. Of course, everybody knows that. Buti sana kung ganyan din kadali sa totoong buhay” (That would be good if it’s as easy as that in real life [literal translation])

My friend, I don’t know what you are going through right now. You might be going through an intense pain, confusion, and you do not know what to do.

But here’s what I learned from my life. We have to listen to those natural signs. For example, if you are being abused by someone, physically or emotionally, it might be a sign that your relationship might not be working. (Yes, I’m talking from experience). If you are unchallenged with your job, then it might be a sign that you need to explore other opportunities. If you are still broke despite your many economic activities, it might be a sign that your strategy is not working.

On the other hand, if you are doing well in your relationship, if you are enjoying your job and if you are seeing good fruits of your economic activities, then congratulations, you have just found your winning formula. It’s a sign that you have to continue what you are doing.

It’s a case to case basis of course. But what I’m trying to point out here is this. Do we really need to ask for signs like “hit me baby one more time”? My answer is no. Signs are already present. Look around. Look deep within. Reflect. And ask for wisdom instead of signs. And as a priest once said, "Look for the signs in the secular events with the eyes of faith."

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