A Sign

We can discover direction for our lives by making time in God's Word a priority and allowing God to bring us into conformity with the Scriptures. Psalm 32 states:
7 You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.
9 Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you.

We can take the necessary steps to hide ourselves in the Lord.  When we seek to move closer to Him, we can see how His truth applies to our lives.  He does lead us by His Holy Spirit, He gives us understanding through careful study and meditation on Scripture, and enables us to live in a manner that pleases God.  We can be confident in His direction and be able to sense where He is leading us. He will show us His ways.

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In the book of Isaiah, chapter 7, the prophet relates an encounter between God and a King named Ahaz:
10 Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying,
11 "Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above."
12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!"
13 Then he said, "Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also?
14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

Paul Knight is the Pastor of Hope Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. According to ReligionNews.com, the church has grown exponentially over the past 30 years, from the humble beginning of around 50 to now over 1000. Since the 90's the church has met at Grand Cities Mall, and eventually bought the complex in 2015.

One of the casualties of the church's renovation: the local KMart that was located there. 

A reminder of the demise of that store appeared in Pastor Paul's front yard a few months ago was the placement of a 15-foot KMart sign, presumably from the old mall location. The image was so profound that late-night talk show host Jimmy Fallon called attention to it with this one-liner: "Basically, the pastor said, ‘Lord, give me a sign,’” adding, “And God said, ‘K.’”

Knight's response? “One of our staff values is ‘play hard, work hard,’” the pastor said. “I’m pretty sure it was a couple of the staff — we have some ongoing pranks and this one wins.”  

The community response? The article relates that: "Almost as soon as the sign showed up, people began stopping by and asking if they could take selfies with it, and eventually the pastor’s house became a kind of community hot spot. Folks even digitally added celebrities...into photos of the sign."

Hope Church has certainly been responsive to its community, according to Religion News, which reported:

The church, part of the Evangelical Covenant denomination, stepped up its community outreach in the past decade after a denominational leader challenged the congregation to do so by asking, “If your church disappeared, would anyone notice?”

The congregation took that to heart, said Knight. The church runs a major child care center and a food pantry, recovery groups and other community outreaches. The church is also helping revitalize the mall, which Knight said is important to the community.

“We want to make sure that people would miss us if something were to happen to the church,” said Knight.

Knight says that “Our mission statement is encouraging people to be fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, who believe God loves them, will love him in return and who love others in Jesus’ name...” 

As for the sign, it stayed in place for about three weeks until a local construction company came to haul it away.

Fallon was right in a sense: we can know that God answers our prayers.  But, those answers are conditional to His will.  We also have to place ourselves in a position to receive, asking in faith based on His Word.  And, we have to be willing to say, "K" to Him, as this church has apparently done throughout the years.

I think that denominational leader asks a very important question: Would people miss our church if we were to disappear?  Are we indelibly linked to the heartbeat of the area which we are called to serve?  If our churches are not making a difference and holding fast to Biblical truth, speaking it to our culture, perhaps we need to re-evaluate.

We also can consider this: Perhaps God is giving you a sign.  Maybe He has placed a desire on your heart, or He is speaking to you through His Word, or has spoken through others, or even the circumstances we face.  We can be sensitive to His direction.