History Main / GiveMeASign

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* From SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} :
-->'''Al''': Lord? We both know how strained things have been with us since that whole Vatican incident, but I figured I'd ask just the same. If Wade's serious, if that girl really is going to turn him around, give me a sign, would ya?
-->''Tosses a basketball over her head. It bounces off the rim, over the roof, and onto an unseen bystander below.''
-->'''Al''': Thanks for squat, Big Guy.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* In the Creator/DonBluth film ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'', when Anya prays for a sign, a dog steals her scarf and runs over to the path to St. Petersburg.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'', event culminating into a ruined Easter result in kids losing their belief in the titular Guardians. Jamie, the last kid who still believes, asks a stuffed rabbit, standing in for the Easter Bunny, to give him a sign that he's real. At that point, [[GodNeedsPrayerBadly Bunny is powerless]] and unable to respond, but Jack Frost can, and sends the sign in the form of a ghostly snow rabbit through Jamie's window.

* Played for laughs in ''Film/OhGod''. To prove His divinity, Jerry asks God to make it rain. He does so... inside Jerry's moving car.
-->'''Jerry Landers:''' "How about a little rain?"
-->'''God:''' "One small shower, coming up." (rain begins falling)
-->'''Jerry Landers:''' "Hey... that's incredible! You didn't even bat an eye!"
-->'''God:''' "Rain's not too hard."
-->'''Jerry Landers:''' "This is amazing!" (he turns on the windshield wipers and discovers that the rain is only falling inside the car] "Hey, it's not raining outside! It's just in here!"
-->'''God:''' "Why should I spoil everybody's day?"
** In one of the sequels, Bobby Shelton, a struggling musician who sold his soul to the devil, prays to God that He would give him a sign. He receives it in the form of a rainbow that appears bright in the sky at night.
** and the colors were reversed (red on the inside, blue on the outside)[[note]]This actually does happen, but it's dimmer and harder to see than the "normal" rainbow. Of course, given the usual quality of Hollywood Science, it's hard to know if it was intentional or not[[/note]].

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

-->Although sometimes the signs from heaven are vague
-->Early November we got back ''the plague''!

-->Give me a sign / Sing the words of innocence and broken pride / Make my conclusions fail

-->Lord if You love me, shut my mouth!

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* This is a RunningGag in ''ComicStrip/{{Candorville}}''. Whenever the reverend asks for a sign, it's always given, and it's always a blackout, presumably signifying God's displeasure at whatever dishonorable scheme the reverend has cooked up to raise money. It turns into a plot point when he asks for a sign if he should reveal that the local voting machines were sabotaged to elect a corrupt candidate--the machines are of a type that wipes its records in the event of a blackout, and only [[ScaryBlackMan Clyde]] used a paper ballot, voting for a snide rap star.
* ComicStrip/BloomCounty has an example where Oliver Wendell Jones is sitting on his roof, looking at the night sky, and when he looks in the same direction as the reader, the stars in the sky spell out "REPENT OLIVER". He then comments on the difficulty in remaining agnostic these days.
* Naturally, ''ComicStrip/{{BC}}'' had a few after Johnny Hart got "born again." One Sunday, a caveman asked God for a sign of His existence. Various events started happening around the caveman, from a rapidly sprouting flower to a volcanic eruption, but he remained oblivious.
* During one ComicStrip/{{Zits}} story line, Jeremy contemplates stealing a street sign for a road that shares his name to use as a van decoration. In the middle of loosening it, he has a crisis of conscience and asks for a sign. He get his sign...specifically, the street sign, which falls on his head.
* A RunningGag in ''ComicStrip/{{Kudzu}}'' has the Reverend praying to God and then God being a LiteralGenie, apparently to screw with him. Reverend asks God "make me thine instrument"? God turns him into a guitar. Reverend asks to be canonized? God sticks him in a cannon.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
* On his ''A Wild and Crazy Guy'' album, Creator/SteveMartin loudly proclaims, "If there is a God, give me a sign! (''{{Beat}}'') See, I told you that the--(begins speaking in complete gibberish)"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]

-->'''Shrek''': Why me? Why me?\\

'''Donkey''': Oh look, a sign! Yunita Pal Avenue straight ahead!

-->'''Tiren''': Whatever gods are looking out for me, thanks.

* [[KnightTemplar Miko Miyazaki]] from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' is constantly looking for these sorts of signs, and always interprets whatever coincidental thing to mean that she should do what she wanted to do anyway. Then the Twelve Gods give her a sign [[{{Anvilicious}} as loud and clear as possible]] when they [[spoiler:appear in the sky to personally strip her of her paladin status]]... so of course she ignores it.

[[folder: Web Original]]

** Another Simpsons example is when Homer asked for no sign.
---> "Dear Lord, the gods have been good to me and I am thankful. For the first time in my life, everything is absolutely perfect just the way it is. So here's the deal: you freeze everything as it is, and I won't ask for anything more. If that is okay, please give me absolutely no sign." ''(brief pause)'' Okay, deal. In gratitude, I present you this offering of cookies and milk. If you want me to eat them for you, please give me no sign. ''(brief pause)'' Thy will be done!" ''(Homer sucks down the cookies)''
** After Homer realises that he can't afford to send Lisa to an independent school, he walks past a music shop:
-->'''Homer''': Musical instruments? Could that be a way to encourage a gifted child? Just give me a sign!
-->''[the shop manager places a sign in the window, reading "Musical Instruments: The Perfect Way To Encourage A Gifted Child"]''
-->'''Homer''': Eh, works for me.

-->'''Early''': Dear Lord, what made all creatures big and small in his own image, did you make them fine-ass speakers what would sound gooder than hell comin' out the back of my TruckBoatTruck? Well, if you don't want me to jimmy-jack them sweet tweeters, you best gimmie a sign (cut to a sign taped to the speakers that says ''Early Cuyler, do not touch''). A new sign, I done seen that one.

[[caption-width-right:350:"A skull and crossbones? [[ComicallyMissingThePoint I'm supposed to become a pirate]]?"]]

[[quoteright:300:[[Webcomic/{{Sinfest}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sinfest-sign_4417.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:'''[[EarWorm HIT ME BABY, ONE MORE TIME!!]]''']]

** In "Party On, Garth", Dean begins to suspect that Bobby's ghost is helping them with their cases, and calls on Bobby to give him a sign if that's the case. Nothing happens, but the end of the episode reveals that Bobby really is haunting them; he just hasn't mastered telekinesis yet.

* On ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' the girls have cast spells to invoke this.

-->'''Tiren''': Whatever gods are looking out for me, [[CrowningMomentofHeartwarming thanks]].

* Sort-of inverted and played for a brief moment of comedy in ''Film/DeepBlueSea'', when the deeply religious and normally teetotalling cook finds a mioraculously intact bottle of liquor in the wrecked and half-flooded kitchen.

* There was a news story a few years back about a guy, caught out in the middle of a thunderstorm, asked God for a sign. [[BoltOfDevineRetribution No prizes for guessing what happened next.]]

** Another Simpsons example is when Homer asked for [[GenreSavvy no sign]].

Subtler examples may fall under MaybeMagicMaybeMundane. SmiteMeOMightySmiter is this trope with a more...belligerent tone.

* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "[[ADayInTheLimelight The Man Who Would Be King]]", Castiel spends the [[WholeEpisodeFlashback whole episode]] praying to God, explaining how he came to work with [[spoiler:Crowley]] in his attempt to stop Raphael from restarting the Apocalypse. At the end of the episode, Cas breaks down, begging his Father to give him a sign that what he's doing is right. [[spoiler:Apparently none comes, as Castiel ends up JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope straight into out-and-out VillainProtagonist territory.]]
** Dean begins to suspect that Bobby's ghost is helping them with their cases, and calls on Bobby to give him a sign if that's the case. Nothing happens, but the end of the episode reveals that Bobby really is haunting them; he just hasn't mastered telekinesis yet.

* Australian comedy series ''Full Frontal'' did a skit where the host of an 'unexplained mysteries' series kept confusing ordinary household events for ghosts or alien conspiracies. Eventually he calls on whoever is out there to send him a sign, only to cop a FryingPanOfDoom from his exasperated wife.

* In ''Literature/TheCurseOfChalion'', Cazaril asks his friend Palli to pray for a sign [[spoiler:about whether he should ride on a mission for Royesse Iselle.]] Palli is skeptical, not the least because Cazaril himself had been skeptical about such things in the past, but agrees to try. [[spoiler:Later, a perturbed Palli tells Caz: "Pray for guidance, you said. In my sleep, if you please. I was killed five times in my dreams last night, I'll have you know. Riding somewhere. Each time more horribly. In the last dream, my horses ate me. I don't want to put my leg across anything, horse, mule, or sawhorse, for a week at least!"]]

* A non-divine example comes from ''HelloDolly!'' in which Dolly Levi asks her dead husband Ephraim for a sign that she should marry Horace Vandergelder. Shortly thereafter, Vandergelder quotes Ephraim's favorite aphorism to her.

* ''Film/TheGrey'': After [[spoiler:losing all the members in his party of plane-crash survivors]], Ottway screams at the heavens for a sign in a "now or never" fashion. A few minutes later, he realizes [[spoiler:he's totally fucked, as he's [[DownerEnding in the middle of wolves' den]]]].

* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "[[ADayInTheLimelight The Man Who Would Be King]]", Castiel spends the [[WholeEpisodeFlashback whole episode]] praying to God, explaining how he came to work with [[spoiler: Crowley]] in his attempt to stop Raphael from restarting the Apocalypse. At the end of the episode, Cas breaks down, begging his Father to give him a sign that what he's doing is right. [[spoiler: Apparently none comes, as Castiel ends up JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope straight into out-and-out VillainProtagonist territory.]]

** After the [[spoiler: death of her father in a drive-by shooting]], Ziva sits in a synagogue and asks for a sign that she should not give up hope. Her prayer is answered by the door opening, and her sign is...Tony, offering support for whatever she needs.

* A heartwarming version in ''WebVideo/CriticalRole''. Prior to the stream, Percy was thrown in jail for [[spoiler: attempting to kill Dr. Ripley]]. He reveals in Episode 24 that he asked the gods for a sign while incarcerated, and then [[FamilyOfChoice Vox Machina]] showed up to rescue him.

* In Creator/RobertEHoward's Literature/ConanTheBarbarian novel ''Literature/TheHourOfTheDragon'', men pray during ThePlague, and take its ending with the king's death as a sign, and a mark of favor for his brother and heir. Conan has none of it:

* In Creator/RobertEHoward's ConanTheBarbarian novel ''The Hour of the Dragon'', men pray during ThePlague, and take its ending with the king's death as a sign, and a mark of favor for his brother and heir. Conan has none of it:

* "[[BritneySpears ...hit me baby one more time!]]"

* In ''[[Literature/{{Chalion}} The Curse of Chalion]]'', Cazaril asks his friend Palli to pray for a sign [[spoiler:about whether he should ride on a mission for Royesse Iselle.]] Palli is skeptical, not the least because Cazaril himself had been skeptical about such things in the past, but agrees to try. [[spoiler:Later, a perturbed Palli tells Caz: "Pray for guidance, you said. In my sleep, if you please. I was killed five times in my dreams last night, I'll have you know. Riding somewhere. Each time more horribly. In the last dream, my horses ate me. I don't want to put my leg across anything, horse, mule, or sawhorse, for a week at least!"]]

-->''"Men are fools, as always," grunted Conan. "If the plague struck all who sinned, then by Crom there wouldn't be enough left to count the living! Why should the gods--who the priests tell me are just--slay five hundred peasants and merchants and nobles before they slew the king, if the whole pestilence were aimed at him? Were the gods smiting blindly, like swordsmen in a fog? By Mitra, if I aimed my strokes no straighter, Aquilonia would have had a new king long ago.''

* Series/{{Fringe}} had an example with a white tulip. [[spoiler: Subverted, as it was actually given to Walter by a time traveller.]]