Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."
Mark 8:11-12
I remember one night receiving a call from the Orange County Sheriff's Department, asking if I'd be willing to meet with a mommy and daddy whose little baby girl had just died in her crib a few minutes prior. Of course I agreed to help, and rushed to the scene, where I encountered the two weeping parents. "If there is a God, how could this happen?" they were sobbing. "Our beautiful little girl...." I took a deep breath and said, "Lord, give me words of wisdom. This is overwhelming."
Before I spoke with them, though, the sergeant pulled me aside. "In a few minutes the coroner will arrive, and we really need your help. The mother is still kneeling beside the crib, caressing her baby's arm...." I knew immediately what the sergeant was implying. It's one thing to see an adult placed in a body bag; it's something much worse, though, to see a baby placed in one -- especially when you are the baby's parent. I needed to shield these poor parents from that agonizing sight.
"Can I talk with the two of you for a moment?" I asked the parents. "Yes," they whispered, their sheer exhaustion written all over their faces. They understandably wanted to stay beside their baby, but I led them into the living room. And sure enough, as we sat in the living room, I saw the coroner pull up out front. "I want to go see my little girl," the mother said. "Ok, but could you wait just a minute?" I asked. I ran in and asked the coroner to hide the body bag as the mother came in one more time to hold her baby, and thankfully, the coroner agreed. The mother got to hold her baby that one last time, and then we all went back to the living room while the coroner carried the baby's body away. About 20 minutes later, the parents asked, "Where is our daughter?" I told them, "Well, they had to take her to the coroner's office to do some exams." And with that, both parents let out a deep, pained, exasperated sigh.
I think that is the kind of sigh Jesus lets out over us. I think that when He looks at you and me, and sees how far we are from His Father, He sighs. It hurts Him. It pains Jesus that we are hard-hearted and insensitive. He probably sighs several times a day for me.
In Mark 8, the Pharisees ask Jesus for a "sign from heaven" (verse 11). How did He respond? He "sighed deeply in His spirit" (verse 12). After all, what other sign did they need? Did they not realize that He, Himself, was their sign from heaven? Did they not see God working through Him?
So often, we get our priorities mixed up. We search for answers to our questions, and solutions to our problems, but we get frustrated, impatient, and even angry when we don't understand. Maybe you've prayed the same prayer for years, and still have no sign of an answer. Or maybe you have a difficult decision to make, and you have no sign of a solution from God. The Lord doesn't desire that we seek signs -- He desires that we seek Him. It grieves the Lord when we seek His power, His help, His signs -- but not Him.
You see, if we seek the Lord only because we have a problem, we will stop seeking Him once our problem is solved. But if we seek the Lord because we love Him, our relationship with Him will run deep -- we will seek Him in good times and bad, whether we know His will or not.
Today, may I encourage you to stop seeking signs from God, and start seeking God, Himself. Let's not be like the Pharisees, who pained the Lord by seeking His power, but never seeking Him. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart... and He shall direct your paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6).
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