"Strike the bell and bide the danger,
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had."

In many conversations I've had, with believers in Christ, believers in something else, and even believers in nothing at all, there is a surprising consensus; that everyone wants to witness an undeniable miracle.  I sometimes riposte with the following challenge:  would your life be easier if you, and only you, had one-time, prima fascia evidence of the supernatural?  If say, on a given day you personally witnessed a burning bush, or a parted sea, or had a clear vision of Christ with a message meant for you to deliver to your fellow man, would it become the watershed event you always dreamed of and prayed for?

What would be the experience of the very next person who encountered you?  Likely as not, they'd remark on your profound enthusiasm.  You would surely persuade them that you believed what you related.  It is possible that you could convince many from that day onward of the sincerity of your experience.

How would you feel about your experience following a fierce debate with a clever or at least determined skeptic and detractor?  Generally speaking, memory fades and becomes less reliable with each passing day.  Could your faith in your own eyes, ears, and mind remain unshaken as you weathered the simple passage of time, or criticism and withering examination of your recollection and interpretation of what seemed so clear at first?  Was the bush really on fire?  Couldn't you explain the purely physical phenomena by an undersea earthquake, and the sloshing of water between two distant shores?

My point is simply this:  if you say to yourself, "Lord, if you would only speak to me, I would listen, and would give myself whole-heartedly to your work and message", but are waiting for that miraculous appearance of the 50-foot Jesus to begin your ministry or witness, are you sure that it would be better to go ahead and "ring that bell"?  Allowing room for doubt also leaves room for excuse and distraction, so that even deeply-rooted believers may pursue their own worldly agendas from time to time.  Or to put it another way, using another quote,

"To whom much is given, much is expected."

Most of the soulds in the world grope through personal darknesses as best as we can, and will in all likelihood be judged in the context of our culture, how we were raised, and what we may have to do to survive.  Circumstances are almost entirely out of our control, and belief is something to which we appeal to withstand the onslaught of the world.  Faith generally consists of reason and choice, but rarely includes any true proof.  If God does grant your prayer and you witness a miracle that wipes away all illusion about what is real and what is important, what would be reasonable for God to expect from you then?