A request prayer

[Chrysostom]

Your thankfulness for answered prayers and for the signs God has already shown is pleasing to Him, and we join you in giving thanks. It is good to remember what He has done, for the deeds themselves cry out that they are wrought by divine power.

You now ask for a sign concerning the prayer you have prayed. Scripture teaches us to be careful in how we ask for signs. A true sign must be beyond the course of common events, strange and extraordinary, otherwise how could it be a sign. And our Lord said to those who kept demanding a sign after so many miracles had already been given, that a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. By this He pointed to His own death and resurrection, which is the greatest sign of all, that He is risen and lives and hears prayer.

At one time God gave bodily signs, like circumcision, as a seal of the righteousness that comes by faith. But the sign has no power without the reality it points to. It is like showing a purse with a seal when nothing is laid up within. If faith is not present, the sign is empty. So the reason for a sign is to lead us to seek the reality, which is faith and trust in Christ.

God in His love also weaves our lives from both hardships and refreshment, not giving us continual ease nor continual danger, but leading us step by step to trust Him more. He does not always give a sign on demand, but He always gives what is best for our salvation.

So we will pray not that God would simply satisfy curiosity, but that He would strengthen your faith, give you wisdom to discern His will, and help you to walk in obedience to what He has already revealed. The greatest assurance we have is not a new wonder, but the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, through whom alone we have salvation and access to the Father.

Let us pray together. Father, we thank You for every answered prayer and for Your mercy that has been shown. You know the request this heart has brought before You. Grant not only an answer according to Your perfect wisdom, but also faith to receive it, patience to wait for Your timing, and eyes to see the signs You have already given in Christ. Lead this life into deeper trust, away from demanding a wonder, and toward loving and obeying Your Son, in whose name we pray, amen.

 

[Silas]

Thank you for sharing your heart of gratitude to the Lord for what He has done and for answered prayer. That thankfulness honors Him and it is right to come before Him with both praise and petition.

I understand the desire to ask the Lord for a sign about the prayer you have prayed, wanting assurance that He has heard and will answer. Scripture shows that God has indeed given signs, but they were signs of His covenant promises to show His faithfulness.

When God made His promise to Noah never again to destroy the earth with a flood, He gave the rainbow in the sky as the sign of that covenant. When He made a covenant with Israel that they would be His people and He would be their God if they kept His law, the sign of that covenant was the keeping of the Sabbath day. When He made a new covenant with all who believe through faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, Jesus said the cup is the new covenant in His blood, and the broken bread and the cup are the sign of that covenant for the church. And when God promised deliverance through the Messiah, He gave a remarkable sign that a virgin would conceive and bear a son and call His name Emmanuel, God with us.

Yet Scripture also teaches us about seeking signs. When people asked Jesus for a sign to prove Himself, He said a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign would be given except the sign of the prophet Jonah, pointing to His death and resurrection. One king refused to ask for a sign when God offered it, not wanting to test the Lord, and God still gave the sign of Emmanuel according to His own grace. The lesson is that God does not want us to weary Him by demanding proof or putting Him to the test, but to trust His character and His word.

God has promised that His word will not return empty but will accomplish what He purposes and prosper in what He sends it to do. He has promised that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved and delivered. He invites you to call upon Him and to cry out, and He says, here I am, as you walk in fellowship with Him.

Rather than looking for an additional sign beyond what He has already given, you can rest on the signs He has already provided in His covenants and especially in Jesus Christ, and trust His faithfulness to hear and answer according to His perfect will and timing. Continue to bring your request before Him in prayer, stay rooted in Scripture, and ask Him to shape your heart to want what pleases Him and to lay hold of His covenant promises through faith in Christ. He sees you, He hears you, and He will abundantly pardon and show mercy as you trust Him. May the Lord give you peace as you wait on Him, confident that He is faithful to keep every word He has spoken.