Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the seeing of miracles. Wait a minute, that doesn’t sound like what we just read in today’s verse. Yet how many times do we treat faith like. Some will say, “Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it with my own eyes.” Or how many have said, “Lord increase my faith, show me a sign.” All of these have to do with the eyes, but faith has nothing to do with the eyes, but rather with our ears faith comes by hearing. Yet what we just read in Romans has nothing to do with seeing a sign or something tangible. Think of Abraham, who when God first called him was named Abram. Do you remember what God said to Abram? Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you.” And what was Abram’s response? “OK Lord, but if it’s really you, then show me a sign, like have someone give me a chariot to travel to this new country in.” No, what about, OK God, I am going to throw this leaf up in the air, and where ever you make it go, then I know it’s You leading me, until it hits the ground and that’s where I am supposed to go.” I’m sure you could come up with many more, but the truth is Abram’s response was simply: Genesis 12:4-5 So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.  Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. There was no, show me a sign, or have this strange thing happen before I will believe you God. Abram simply believed what God said, even though he did not fully understand it, and he went as God told him to. It was simply, God said it, and that’s good enough for me. Hebrews 11:8 (NLT2) It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. Yet people still seek a sign, something they can see and handle and smell and touch before they will believe God. When we don’t follow what faith is in Romans: faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. We can end up being a Pharisee who didn’t want to trust in God’s word, but wanted to see a sign, which if you read it, it was testing Jesus. And what was Jesus response to them?   Matthew 16:1 & 4 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed. If you think about it, they wanted a sign, and Jesus told them what the sign would be, and even though they saw the sign after Jesus rose from the dead, they still did not believe, and they still rejected God’s word, even though the Messiah was right in front of their eyes. The Apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith, and what was Jesus’ response? (Note they asked for their faith to be increased, not that they would see a sign) Luke 17:5-6 And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."  So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.”  He gave them something that seemed impossible, which would be to talk to a tree and that tree would just come up out of the ground, which is not a sign, but a miracle that only God could do though them. Also note that there is nowhere in the bible that any of the Apostles (or anyone else in the bible) pulled a tree up out of the ground with their mind or by speaking to it. So, what have you been praying for and asking the Lord for a sign before you will believe and trust in His word? Maybe it’s time to stop asking for a sign, and start listening to what God wants to say to you. Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. John 20:29 Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."