“Now [the disciples] had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat… And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, ‘Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand?…When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?’ They said to him, ‘Twelve.’ ‘And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?’ And they said to him, ‘Seven.’
And he said to them, ‘Do you not yet understand?’”
Mark 8:14-20
Not long after seeing Jesus feed over 5,000 people, and after that 4,000, the disciples still worried over not having enough bread among just themselves.
No doubt they recalled the miracles – did they doubt Jesus’ constancy? His ability and/or willingness to do it yet again? Were they caught up in their limited view of the day-to-day, not considering that His power applies even there, in their “smaller” things?
After all, this setting was away from the crowds. They would be the only beneficiaries of that display of power. So would He really use it just for them?
How often do we perhaps wrestle with the same questions?
…But our God cares about what concerns us.
He sees our individual need. For healing. For strength to get through the day, through the moment. For encouragement. For comfort. For food. For money to pay the bills. For shelter. For faith. For relationship.
Whatever your need is today, your heavenly Father sees it. He is able and willing to provide.
Cry out to Him in faith; He will hear.
“In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed I came from God” (John 16:26-27).
He will hear, and He will respond. For He is a good Father, and you are greatly loved.
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you,
casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.”
1 Peter 5:6-7
“Cast your burden on the LORD,
and He will sustain you;
He will never permit
the righteous to be moved.”
Psalm 55:22
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Matthew 6:25-33
In Pleasant Places 