Earlier in the week, as I was getting ready for tomorrow’s sermon (“Be Joyful” from Ephesians 5:8-20) for some reason I ended up in John 6. As I was reading, a verse jumped out at me and I went on a “rabbit hunt” and began putting thoughts together for a future sermon totally off my original topic. Listen to what Jesus said: But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do (John 6:6). Remember the incident: Jesus and the disciples were being followed by many, many people. They had seen Him perform several miracles and were looking for Him to touch them or one of their loved ones. Jesus decided that it would be best to get in a boat and cross the Sea of Galilee. However, the masses still followed Him hoping that they would benefit from one of His miracles. It was evening time and Jesus realized that these people had followed Him all day long and they were hungry. So before He spoke to them, He decided that He and His disciples should feed them. The Bible says that there were more than 5,000 people who needed to be fed. The disciples were beside themselves. They didn’t have enough money to purchase food for that many people and they were not sure what avenue to take to alleviate the problem. But John reports that Jesus already knew what He was going to do with this “problem”. Jesus seems to be testing the disciples. Jesus was wanting to know if his close friends had been paying attention to His works. Jesus wanted to know if they would think outside of the box and look to find a “God solution” to the situation. Well, as often happened, they failed the test. I can totally put myself in the shoes of the disciples. Like them, I probably would have looked in my wallet and have the others look in their wallets to see if, combined, we had the resources to pull off feeding 5000 hungry people. It would not have taken long to realize that we did not have the adequate finances between us to buy enough food for the crowd. One thing I have learned over the years and through the trials that Linda and I have faced in our 43 years together, is that when we come to the end of our resources, God is always there with His resources. My problem (and I think I am probably typical) is that I tend to look at my resources first, before I turn to God. I would have saved myself a lot of grief if I would have just remembered that God was there with the solution all along. So, let me ask the question that comes to the front in this discussion. When a problem arises in your life do you think first of the logical human solution? Did you ever think that perhaps this problem has arisen as an opportunity to reveal His glory in the situation? So, the next time you face a crisis, why not go outside the box and look for the “God solution” and the watch the glory of God reveal itself in your problem! Have a great day.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 00:44:51 +0000
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