On Signs

At the age of 55 years, I had a “first” in my life. Johnny Booth took me deer hunting. We even got a picture of me looking very much like a hunter, even though I do not hunt. In fact, if you looked at that picture and thought of it as a sign that I was a hunter, you would be wrong. We did not see any deer. At the end of the morning, we took a walk around the area. Johnny pointed to bark that deer had recently rubbed off by rubbing against it. He showed another area that suggested a buck marking his territory, and giving a sign to any female deer that he was there. We saw no deer; we did see signs of their presence.

Where would we be without signs? You probably do not think about them that much, but you use them every day. They tell which streets are one-way, how fast you should drive, where to find a restroom, which gender the restroom is, when your favorite store is open, where to buy a meal, what dangerous areas to avoid, where to find a sale, and a zillion other things that are part of daily life. Without signs, we would be confused, unsure where we were, have no idea where to find our daily necessities and, a good bit of the time, be actually lost.

 Doug Lansky, author, columnist and occasional show host on the Discovery Channel, released a book containing photos of signs he and others have taken on travels around America and a number of other countries. Titled Signspotting, the book shows some signs that are unintentionally comical because people for whom English was not their first language composed them. Other signs shown in the book are from English-speaking countries and composed, we assume, by people who have spoken English all their lives, but the postings are laughable. Underneath a sign that says, “Not a through street,” is another sign, “evacuation route.” Another sign has “Promised Land,” with another sign across it, “closed.” I think he is up to Part 4 of his series of books, along with many other travel guides.

Preparation – Signs in Bible and our text

The Bible has a concern with a different type of sign. These are signs of what God is doing in our world and in our lives. Such signs can help us know where we are and just importantly know where we need to go. Sometimes, people miss the sign.  

(Isaiah 7:10-14).

“Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.”  

(Luke 2:12)

“This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 

If we do not read this sign properly, we will indeed not know where we are, or where we are going.