The Signs Are Everywhere
When there is a big decision on the horizon or we need help, we ask for a sign to help guide us. Oftentimes, we want the proverbial burning bush to light up right in front of our faces. We ask for signs because the thing we need most in that moment is help. I’m not necessarily talking about traffic signs and billboard signs; I am talking about signs to help you answer a deeper question.
But from my experiences, the problem isn’t that a sign doesn’t appear. The sign almost always appears, we just choose to ignore it. A perfect example of this is The Parable of the Drowning Man. There are various versions of the parable, but it goes something like this:
A man was trapped in his house during a flood. He began praying to God to rescue him. He had a vision in his head of God’s hand reaching down from heaven and lifting him to safety. The water started to rise in his house. His neighbor urged him to leave and offered him a ride to safety. The man yelled back, “I am waiting for God to save me.” The neighbor then drove off in his pick-up truck.
The man continued to pray and hold on to his vision. As the water began rising in his house, he had to climb up to the roof. A boat came by with some people heading for safe ground. They yelled at the man to grab a rope they were ready to throw and take him to safety. He told them that he was waiting for God to save him. They shook their heads and moved on.
The man continued to pray, believing with all his heart that he would be saved by God. The floodwaters continued to rise. A helicopter flew by and a voice came over a loudspeaker offering to lower a ladder and take him off the roof. The man waved the helicopter away, shouting back that he was waiting for God to save him. The helicopter left. The flooding water came over the roof and caught him up and swept him away. He drowned.
When he reached heaven and asked, “God, why did you not save me? I believed in you with all my heart. Why did you let me drown?” God replied, “I sent you a pick-up truck, a boat, and a helicopter and you refused all of them. What else could I possibly do for you?”
As you’re reading the parable, I am sure there’s a part of you that was thinking, “This is silly. The drowning man would have surely gotten in the pick-up, or the boat, or the helicopter.” Trust me, I initially thought the same thing. But as I said before, the signs appear; we just choose to ignore them…
Let me take it one step further, because we can all read this parable and understand the point it’s trying to convey. But it’s not just about the man choosing to ignore the signs, it’s more about understanding why he chose not to be saved. In other words, WHY did he ignore the obvious signs that he might DROWN?? He saw the water rising. He saw the options to get out. And, yet, he still ignored them. But did you catch what his vision was? “He had a vision in his head of God’s hand reaching down from heaven and lifting him to safety.”
The man in the parable didn’t want a sign. He wanted the plan he had in his head.
When you ask for a sign, you need to leave space. Leave room for the pick-up, the boat, or the helicopter with a ladder. Leave room for God to send you a sign, not a confirmation of your plan.
As Proverbs 16:19 reads: “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
Recently, my husband and I asked for a sign to help us with a particular decision we will have to make. Well, it didn’t just appear to us; it smacked us in the face. It was not what we had planned, but we didn’t ask for a plan…
Don’t be surprised when you ask for a sign and it smacks you in the face, and forces you to come to terms with a choice you have to make. And don’t be surprised when that sign is not what you had in mind.
Signs are everywhere. Some signs give us no choice and still we want to ignore or reject them. Some signs are loud and bright and shout “You have to!” Some signs are more subtle or covert. Some signs are physical. Some are suggested. Some signs you have to dig deep to interpret.
But all signs have one inherent question in common: “Do you see me?”
What are the signs in your life that you can no longer reject or ignore?
Will you see them, or will you drown?
