Mark 8:3-4 (NIV) “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.” His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”

During His ministry on earth, Jesus attracted large crowds because of the miracles that He performed and because of the authority that He taught with. No one had ever heard anyone teach about God and the things of heaven like He did. One day, Jesus and the disciples were with a crowd and Jesus felt compassion for them. He didn’t want to send them home hungry because He was concerned that they would collapse along the way. But the disciples wondered where anyone would be able to get enough bread to feed that crowd, which was said to be about 4000 people. Who could blame them, right? Actually, you could blame them because on another day before this one the disciples witnessed Jesus multiply two fish and five loaves of bread to feed over ten thousand people (five thousand men, not counting women and children - Mark 6:44). So what was their problem?

Their problem is the same problem that we have. No matter how many times the Lord answers our prayers and no matter how many times He does things that we know are impossible through the working of miracles, we doubt Him when we face a new situation or problem. The disciples not only saw Jesus multiply enough bread and fish to feed a large multitude, but they had seen Him heal the lame, cause blind people to see, liberate many from demon possession and so on. But here was a new day with a new problematic circumstance and they didn’t remember what Jesus did the last time. We don’t remember what Jesus did the last time in our lives either, and that makes us ask the same question that the disciples did on this occasion. We ask Jesus, “How are we going to get through this current problem?” The answer is that we will get through it the same way that Jesus brought us through the last time. He won’t use the same methods, but the result will be the same, which is that He will supply whatever is needed according to His glorious riches in heaven.

Thank goodness that the Lord Jesus is so gentle and patient with us. Instead of berating us for not getting it, He teaches us the lesson again...and again and again until we get it. When we get it, that’s when we experience the peace that passes all understanding no matter what we face in life. What Jesus did before, He will do again because He loves us, He cares for us, and He never changes. Let’s learn that lesson well.

Pastor Joey Vazquez