The Pharisees came and ... ask[ed Jesus]
for a sign from heaven, to test him.
And Jesus sighed in his spirit ...
Mark 8:11-12
Have you ever "sighed in [your] spirit"?!
Parents often sigh deep in their spirit. A common -- but rather trivial -- cause of parental sighs is being asked the same question for the hundredth time -- "Are we there yet?"
A more earnest reason for heart-wrenching groans comes after parents have given their children hundreds of warnings ... and yet our children still dabble with destruction.
Through the prophets, God had given his people hundreds of warnings, yet his children were still flirting with disaster. In fact, their hearts were souring at such a rapid rate that they were preparing to execute God's own Son.
In Mark 8, Jesus sighed in his spirit because hard hearts and murderous intents. He also groaned, I am sure, because it was probably the hundredth time that Jesus was asked to deliver a sign. The words, "to test him," were surely the cause for yet another sigh.
We all want signs as big as billboards and miracles with neon lights, but even the parting of the Red Sea only changed the Israelites hearts for three days. Complaining returned. Doubt reemerged. Discouragement reigned.
You and I have had as many miracles as the Israelites. Not all of them are neon. But even life and breath is more than we deserve. If we look closer -- and with the lenses of faith -- we can also see God's fingerprints all over our days. We can also turn to pages of scripture and walk through the sea with Israelites and watch Lazarus rise from the tomb.
So why do we keep making God sigh?
And why does he still keep loving us so much?
In Christ's Love,
a guy who'd rather be a sign maker
than a sigh producer
... I'm honored to point others to Christ
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