Tonight my family was having fun filming the Super Moon. You can see our (20161115_011546000_iOS) homage to Joss Whedon if you have the bandwidth and realize that Joss Whedon should be upset.
We did the best we could.
It reminded me: signs in Heaven matter, except when they do not.
The strange thing is that events in space and time are significant. There comes a convergence of what is happening externally in space and time and what is happening within us. We can call that chance, but that does not explain anything. Explaining away reality is always possible, but why explain away what is real.
Why do this?
A “coincidence” is often a way of saying: “I don’t want to see the significance in what is happening.”
Christians are also right to be on guard against those who think they can predict an event of significance based on a coming sign in Heaven. This is wrong. The convergence cannot be predicted. Instead, the man of God stands after the event and says as Peter said in Acts: “this is that spoken of. . .” The sign comes together with the reality and so we know.
We see a comet and a king dies and a kingdom falls. After this happens, when the two things have come together they form a story that we cannot avoid telling.
This means that signs in Heaven are not for unbelievers, but for those who already believe. We know God is and that the entire cosmos operates on His plan. We know this for reasons independent of this particular sign in Heaven.
So when everything falls together and the comet comes, we see that sign, and a kingdom falls, then we can say: This is that. People who predict are fools, people who see what is happening in front of them are simply reporting the news.
Once when I was discouraged, corrupt men were driving me out of work, I drove home and prayed. Over the house appeared a rainbow and I was encouraged. This was that. . . I believe. Again, this is not sign for unbelievers. I understand this, but it was a sign for me. Before I saw the bow in Heaven, God filled my heart with trust in His promise and then I looked up and the rainbow was there.
Was it chance?
It was not. It was God. Would that convince an atheist? Of course it would not, but then it was not a sign for the atheist. God was speaking through nature to me.
What about all the rest of town? I do not know how many messages that God had arranged to convey through that rainbow. Who would be stupid enough to think it was merely for me? Of course it was not. Of course it was also made up of a series of natural causes, but in a world that is intelligently designed.
I have found that when I live by the Spirit, some things are meaningful that might be missed otherwise. This becomes weird when I look for signs or push reason away from my heart. When reason and experience work together, then a super moon can make me laugh as we play, while somewhere else in Sugar Land (how sweet a city!), God may be making a point to another child.
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