Signs Follow Those That Believe - D&C 63:7-11

And he that seeketh signs shall see signs, but not unto salvation. Verily, I say unto you, there are those among you who seek signs, and there have been such even from the beginning; But, behold, faith cometh not by signs, but signs follow those that believe. Yea, signs come by faith, not by the will of men, nor as they please, but by the will of God. Yea, signs come by faith, unto mighty works, for without faith no man pleaseth God; and with whom God is angry he is not well pleased; wherefore, unto such he showeth no signs, only in wrath unto their condemnation.

Remember Jesus' enigmatic saying "the wind bloweth where it listeth" (John 3:8)? To me this is a perfect metaphor for the Spirit of God. Seeking signs or trying to force the hand of God is like trying to control the wind. It is impossible.

This again brings me around to the point of ascertaining the will of God before presuming to have faith in it. No mighty works, signs or miracles will ever occur unless in accordance with the will of God. Now, I am not saying that we can't pray for something when we don't know if it is His will. Jesus taught the parable of the unjust judge, in which the judge eventually gave in to the persistent widow's petitions because her petitions were so abundant and wearying. I believe there is nothing wrong praying with hope if the thing we desire is good, regardless of whether we have an assurance of God's will. Only that we must always pray with deference to His divine will. "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." "take this cup from me, nevertheless, thy will be done."

Some have stumbled at the concept of evil being allowed by God. If he allows men to commit evil acts, how can He be good? And the simple answer is that He has given us our agency - it is a gift. If He were to enforce righteousness, the gift would be destroyed, as well as righteousness. How could righteousness or wickedness exist if choosing either of them were not an option?

What about natural disasters? Aren't these proof that God allows evil? I say it depends on our perspective. We must always remember that His perspective is eternal and that our salvation is always more important than our survival. A tragedy to Him is when we corrupt ourselves, accept depravity and incorrect principles. This is one of the major problems with sign-seeking. Seeing a sign does not produce the desire or determination to change. Thus if He were to show a sign to an individual who is not repentant at heart, He would be causing them to enter into deeper damnation.

And now, how much more cursed is he that knoweth the will of God and doeth it not, than he that only believeth, or only hath cause to believe, and falleth into transgression? (Alma 32:19)

On the flip side, if we desire and pray for good, when His will requires it, He can and does intervene on behalf of those who use their agency to exercise faith in Him. These occasions are what we commonly call miracles. I often compare this to a ship without a rudder. When we don't pray, it is like rejecting God from our life, and like a ship without a rudder, we will be tossed wherever the wind and waves take us. However, when we pray, it is like having a rudder. When we pray, we are using our will to ask God to be a part of our life. And when we do this, He always responds (according to His will) and provides direction so that it is possible to harness the wind and waves to our benefit.