Ask!

 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test."
Isaiah 7:12 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/isa.7.12.ESV

Ahaz sounds positively pious in this verse. He refuses to ask God for a sign, because, he reasons, he doesn't want to put God to the test. The problem is, God has just told him to ask for a sign.

Ahaz refused to ask for a sign, but God gave him one anyway. The virgin would have a Son, and He would be called Immanuel: God with us. A King of the Jews would be born who would deliver His people from their sins.

Of course, we know Immanuel as the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised virgin born Son of God. Where Ahaz failed as a king of the Jews, Jesus succeeded. His crucifixion looked like failure, but it was the means by which we would be delivered from our sins.

So it's okay to ask God for signs. People often criticise Gideon for doing so for example. Yet God indulged him anyway, demonstrating that He was happy to oblige with signs.

'God, may we look to You and Your word for signs as to how we should act. For Your praise and honour we pray, amen'

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