More Than a Sign

There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!” You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. “I’d believe in God if He showed me a sign.” How many times have you heard someone say that? Sadly, so many people struggle with faith in God because they only believe in something they can see with their eyes. — Psalm 4:6-7 ESV

Every Sunday, we begin the week with an inspirational lesson from the beloved Book of Psalms. Written by King David and others, these ancient songs and prayers have given voice to God’s people in moments of joy, sorrow, praise, and thanksgiving for thousands of years—and remain at the heart of both Jewish and Christian worship today.

Another barrier to faith is that many people think that faith in God will automatically lead to material blessings. Because they think this way, if they suffer materially, this leads to a loss of faith, with thinking like, “If God really loved me, He’d bless me and I’d have no problems.”

What these people fail to see is that faith is a relationship. Like any true relationship, faith depends on trust. And like any healthy relationship, if we only focus on what we can get out of it for ourselves, the relationship is doomed. But when we have faith and trust in God, we realize that what we get from the relationship is so much greater than any material blessings.

We see this in Psalm 4, when we read, “There are many who say, ‘Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!’ You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.”

The Hebrew for “lift up” in the first verse has an unusual spelling. The word used here is nesah, spelled the same way as nes which means “banner,” “sign,” or “miracle.” The first verse here describes those people who say, “I want God to show me a sign. I want Him to show me some prosperity. Then I’ll believe in Him.”

To this, David responds that the joy we receive from a relationship with God is far greater than any material blessing. As David wrote, God gave him more joy than those who found happiness in the material blessings of “grain and wine.”

We don’t need signs and wonders from God. We need a relationship with Him.