A leap of faith
Mark 6:30-44
Have you ever told God, “I think you’re nuts!” when He asks you to do something? I sure do. If I have not personally witnessed some miracle, I tend to think it can’t be done. If I am asked to do something out of my comfort zone, I’m likely to say, “I can’t do that, it would be too stressful.” If asked to take a leap of faith, I’m likely to first think of where I’m going to land. These are human flaws brought on by weak faith.
We tend to seek and do what we see and know. Things that require faith are almost always unseen and unknown. They’re scary. This is the case in today’s Bible Study.
Jesus and his disciples had been with a huge crowd all day and had not eaten. The crowd probably had not eaten either. Jesus, hungry and tired, said to his disciples, “Let’s get out of here,” so they left by boat. Well, the crowd saw them go and ran along the coastline to where Jesus was going. They beat Him there! No rest for the weary I guess (can you imagine our entire congregation stalking pastor Mike in the hopes that he might give us another sermon?). Jesus saw the need of the crowd and had compassion on them, so he taught them some more until it was quite late. It was the disciples that saw (or felt) the next need – they were hungry. The disciples asked that the crowd be dispersed so they could go buy something to eat. Jesus said, “No, we’ll feed them.” In a “see where you are landing” leap of faith, the disciples said, “but that would cost us 200 day’s wages just for the bread!” (There was a really big implied “no way!” in that statement). Jesus asked what was available and the disciples produced five loaves of bread and two fish. Hmm, that might not even feed the twelve disciples. Jesus got the crowd to sit in groups of 50 and 100, He then blessed the food and had his disciples distribute the food baskets. Everyone ate until they were full, and there were twelve baskets of leftovers. With just five loaves of bread and two fish, Jesus fed 5,000 men, not to mention the women and children as well (for Jewish tradition only counts the men).
It was a miracle, and practical at that. Jesus not only fed the people spiritually, but physically as well. He took care of all their needs. Jesus takes care of all our needs as well. There is nothing He can’t do. So if He asks us to do something that is “nuts,” trust that He will be faithful to help us through it. God has great follow-through. Trust in him and you will be blessed.
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