Sailor Take Warning

The red sky over Broadway in Placerville last Saturday reminded me of my sailing days in the 1970s. As a sailor who didn't have a fondness for rough seas, I watched the morning sky for any sign of color. I wanted to prepare myself for the coming storm.

The old weather proverb guided me each day: "Red sky in morning, sailor take warning, Red sky at night, sailor's delight."

When you think about it, man has always looked for signs of the coming Lord. In Jesus' time on earth, the Pharisees and Sadducees longed for Jesus to prove that He was the Messiah. Jesus said in one encounter that they had the signs of the messiah. All they had to do was read the existing signs.

Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. 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 (Matthew 16:1-4).

Like the Pharisees and Sadducees, we have today many signs that point to Jesus. All we have to do is read them. Like the young sailor who searches the sky each morning for any sign of a coming storm, Jesus tells us all we have to do is look for the "sign of the prophet Jonah."