An old farmer always called his hogs to the feeding trough by hitting it with a piece of wood. Tap-tap-tap. That's all it took and they would come running. It was a great system, until, for some odd reason, he noticed them losing weight. He couldn't understand it. Then one day, he discovered the culprit. A woodpecker was pecking on a tree nearby. Every time the woodpecker pecked, tap-tap-tap, the hogs came running. I guess all that extra running kept them trim.

The people of Israel were no different from you and me. They were constantly looking for signs. The problem was, they had difficulty discerning the sound of the farmer with food and the sound of the woodpecker tapping on a tree. So it is with people who rely on signs and miracles rather than the Word of God. 

Jesus said, "an evil …