Devotion 

A Sign

Frances Taylor

This passage from 1Kings refers to the question of who was God – Yahweh or Baal. There had been a severe drought and the prophets of Baal set up a test with Elijah as to whether the God of Israel or Baal could end the drought. No matter how the prophets of Baal tried to bring fire to their sacrifice, they failed. As we see, when Elijah prayed, God brought fire down that consumed everything and the people believed. We have just ended the Easter Season and celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost but are we still looking for a sign?

We are given signs all the time but we need eyes of faith to see them. They're not as dramatic as with Elijah, but no less powerful. We hear all about the disasters that happen and don't quickly forget, but we don't always hear of the miracles that occur. We know about plane crashes when all die, but there have also been those when all lived. A mine collapses in Chile and all are rescued. A hurricane or tornado or other natural disaster occurs and millions of people work to put things right with money or volunteering their expertise, whatever it takes. All of these are signs that God is working in our world. What kind of sign do we need? There will never be an end to tragedy. So much of what is wrong in our world is a direct result of the action of people using their free will. There's not much we can do about that, but we can look for the little miracles that happen every day instead of the tragedies. The cancer that is caught in time, the donor match that means a person will live, the couple that has tried for years to have a child and now are pregnant, the day you were late for work and missed being involved in a terrible accident, all these are daily miracles. If we look, we'll see the signs.

Prayer

Lord, we do believe, help our unbelief. Amen.