Well Informed Faith; God Is Moving
Matthew 15: 33 His disciples answered, "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?"
How we respond to God can well determine the extent of His
power in our lives. What do we approach Him with however? Doubt? Unbelief?
Negativity? Worldly logic? God will not work with that. The key verse today
comes from the miracle of the feeding of the four thousand. I have isolated
this one verse because it is simply astounding to me. Jesus has been teaching
for three days to a large group of people and has compassion on them. He is
worried that if He sends them on their way, they might collapse on the way
home. Remember there were no taxis back then! The response here from the
disciples is staggering. Their level of disbelief is especially stunning in
light of what they had already witnessed. Being His disciples they had already
witnessed the miraculous on a daily basis. They had witnessed demons cast out
of the possessed. The blind received sight. The lame walked. The deaf now hear.
A dead girl rose to life. The woman with the issue of blood healed by merely
touching the hem of His garment. The fierce storms on the
Can you picture the scene? After three days of teaching, Jesus wants to provide for the multitude. The disciples do not reflect back to His awesome power in healing people and raising the dead. They do not even reflect back to when He fed a larger group of people with only five loaves and two fish. They do not reflect back to the 12 basketfuls that were left over after that miracle. Instead they rely on their human logic and proceed to tell Jesus how crazy His idea is.
And isn't that just like ourselves sometimes? We too have seen the miraculous work of God in our lives. Our salvation alone is a miracle:
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. Romans 1: 16 (NIV)
The word translated as "power" in this verse was "dunamis" in the Greek. Dunamis is translated 22 other times as "miracle" or miraculous." This makes complete sense as the Gospel is a miracle from God to provide salvation for sinful man. I am sure if we think back to where God found us and where He has brought us to, the word miracle would probably fit pretty well. The Psalmist agrees:
I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock Psalm 40: 1-2 (NIV)
