Abby and the Signs of the Times

“Abby is driving me crazy!  She shakes her head all the time now.” 

“I know.  She wakes me up all night.  Let’s start putting her in the utility room so we can sleep.”

Keith and I went several days carrying on about how Abby was annoyingly shaking her head.  And, with every shake, causing her collar to jingle.  Then, our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson came to visit us.  Chris, whose dog is Abby’s father, commented to us, “I think Abby has an ear infection.”  Keith and I were shocked because when our cocker spaniel would get an ear infection, she rubbed her ear on the carpet and would act uncomfortable.  That was our cue to check her ears.  Abby, on the other hand, never gave us one hint that she was uncomfortable.  Tail wagging, she greeted us with a smile and didn’t once rub her ears.  Following up on Chris’ comment, we checked her ears and sure enough, it looked like she had an infection.

At the vet, I felt like I had “Horrible Dog Owner” stamped on my forehead in bold black letters.   “She’s got a really bad infection,” our vet announced.  Feeling lower than low, my heart sank to think that Keith and I assumed that Abby had simply developed a habit of shaking her head.  “Why didn’t she tell us?” I wondered.  Then, I realized that she had told us. We simply didn’t understand the signs she gave us. 

There is another who has given us signs:  God.  I can’t help but wonder if we sometimes ignore them.  For instance, consider the following signs He’s given us.

In Luke 2:12, angelic beings announced to shepherds that the Savior, Christ the Lord, had been born.  “This will be a sign for you:  you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  Now, certainly, shepherds could have missed a baby’s birth in a crowded city.   However, Jesus’ birth in a manger was distinct…a sign.  It set His birth apart from all other births in Jerusalem that night.  God gave a sign.  The shepherds acknowledged it and were blessed.

At the outset of Jesus’ public ministry, he performed a miraculous sign of His deity by doing something no human could do.  He turned water into wine.  He didn’t do it for show.  He did it at the request of His mother to save their wedding hosts from the embarrassment of running out of wine.  Those in close proximity to Jesus saw what He did.  As His public ministry continued, Jesus continued to show signs that He was more than human.  He healed lepers with a touch (Mt 8:2-3), healed a centurion’s servant long distance by simply speaking the word (Mt 8:5-13), spoke and the winds and sea obeyed Him (Mt 8:26-27), and raised the dead (Mt 9:18-26).  In spite of Jesus’ signs, the scribes and Pharisees ignored them and asked Him to “perform a sign” for them.  “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You,” they asked. (Mt 12:38)  I wonder if Jesus didn’t want to say, “Haven’t you been seeing and hearing what I’ve been doing?!”  However, instead, Jesus replied, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,” Mt 12:39-40.  In other words, the greatest sign Jesus gave that He is God’s Son was His death, burial, and resurrection to life.  To ignore that sign is far worse than to ignore a lab shaking her head because she has an ear infection.  And, yet, how many today argue, “Well, I think there are many ways to God.”  If so, why did God send Jesus to suffer for our sins?  If so, why did Jesus say, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Me,” John 14:6?  If the virgin birth, Jesus’ miraculous powers, and His resurrection from the dead weren’t meant to be signs proving His deity, calling us to salvation in Him, then why did God give us these signs?

Near the end of Jesus’ ministry, the disciples asked, “What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Mt 24:3)  Did Jesus answer?  Did He tell us what signs to look for?  What are the signs?  You’ll find them in Matthew 24.  The important question is:  Are we paying attention to them?  Or, as I did with Abby, are we ignoring them?  I pray we’re paying attention!

© Debbie Taylor Williams

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