Saturday Reading: Mark 8:14-21
Key Verse: Mark 8:17
17 And knowing it, Jesus said to them, Why do you reason that it is because you have no loaves? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Have you still hardened your heart?
Devotion:
Just after performing another great miracle by feeding more than 4000 people with a few loaves and fish – the second such miracle – Jesus then started to talk about the disciples having to be very wary of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. The first thing that popped into their heads was the talk of bread itself and they remembered quite clearly how many baskets of bread there was left over after the miracles, and yet they still did not quite get what Jesus was talking about here. There are going to be times when Christ will allow something into our lives so that we will think about things and not just blindly keep on going no matter what.
Just when you may think that everything is going the way that you want it to go, a change occurs that throws you totally out of sync with what you think should be happening. You suddenly find that you have to start re-evaluating so many things that you begin to get worried that something must have gone wrong. But maybe, just maybe, Christ is making you stop and think about where you are going in your life. Maybe He wants you to start thinking about something different or new. Maybe He wants you to stop and think about where you are headed.
I love coming back to Jonah in cases like this because he seems an easy target. But in truth we have all will face decisions in our lives where God wants us to stop and think. If we continue to ignore Him, then we may well find ourselves in a bit of hot water like Jonah did; so what we need to do is to try and find out what God wants in our lives at the earliest possible instance rather than having to wait until it all hits the fan! Our problem is that we look at things from an earthly point of view and see everything as physical wants, needs, desires instead of looking at things from God’s spiritual context. Yes it does take time to figure things out sometimes, but have a bit of patience and study on…
Points to Ponder:
How often do you get in a pickle?
How often do you look at things from a spiritual point of view instead?