S206P3 – How soon we forget: an opportunity missed
Mk. 6:35-38
When the day was now far spent, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place and already the hour is late. Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat.” But He answered and said to them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?” But He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”
Whenever I read the scriptures, I try to create a realistic movie in my head of the accounts I am reading. I try to figure out the sights, the sounds, the aromas, and the atmosphere. Some of the scriptures give an account of rather normal events such as people sharing a meal or discussing the things of God. Other accounts tell us of incredibly wondrous miracles that, if they occurred before my eyes, I cannot say how I would respond. These events are so wild and crazy, so unexpected that one can forget that the stories are true. Perhaps there is some grace for our disbelief as we can only read the words which describe these events, but I must wonder how one could have witnessed them and not have been conditioned to expect the miraculous.
When the disciples approached Jesus about dinner, and He told them to feed the multitude themselves, this was not the ravings of someone out of touch with the reality of that situation. This was no snarky or misinformed command but an opportunity to operate in the miraculous. The disciples had seen Jesus heal the sick and exercise demons. Just a few verses before this passage, we are told that He sent the disciples to perform these very miracles themselves. Not only had they seen their Lord and teacher operate in the seemingly impossible, but they had operated in the same manner on their own. When Jesus challenged them to feed the crowd, they did not realize that He was simply telling them to make another miracle. They had the power through him to do that, but they were not yet conditioned to expect the miraculous as their reality.
How can it be that the people of God today would be so amazed by incredible acts of the Spirit such as physical healing or the resurrection from the dead? I believe the reason is that we simply do not walk in the power available to us. We can live in the miraculous daily if we discipline ourselves spiritually to follow the Lord’s manner of living according to his instruction, and that will take us to a place of expecting miracles the way we expect to breathe our next breath. I believe that God wants us to live a miraculous lifestyle knowing that it is the way He has designed it for us to walk here. We only need remember what He has done and take advantage of the opportunities He places before us to make a miracle. Father, remind us of the power You have exhibited in times past and in our own lives so that we would learn to walk in that incredible power daily.