Scripture:
Mark 8:1-10 – Jesus feeds four thousand men with seven loaves of bread
Application:
Right now in my life I feel like both my time and my talent amount to seven loaves; I feel overextended. What I want is to get to the end of my day and feel like I have baskets left … but I don’t. I feel like it’s all gone, including my portion. Perhaps the problem is that I’m relying only on my seven loaves, or maybe I’m not sufficiently thanking for and asking God to bless them. Either way, I know there is more. I know that God has baskets for me, so that I can hand out everything I have and have baskets left over.
Prayer:
Lord, thank you for my seven loaves – let me not be ungrateful for the bounty in my life. Please bless my time, and bless my talent so that everyone around me has received everything they need from me without want for more. Let my source be you, Lord. I know that my stores will never be enough – that I need to come to you in order to give more than I have, and I know you are more than capable. I love you, Lord.
Scripture:
Luke 20:2 “[The Pharisees] demanded, “By whose authority did you drive out the merchants from the temple?”
Luke 20:22 “Tell us – is it right to pay taxes to the Roman government or not?”
Luke 20:33 “Tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection?”
Observation:
Questions can tell us as much about the asker as the answers do about the responder. In each case, Christ “saw through their trickery.”
Application:
I think I often ask the wrong questions of both God and man, focusing particulars or events more than concepts and values. When I feel a question coming on, I need to stop and check what my value is behind the question, and then make sure it’s the right question.
Prayer:
Lord, thank you for being bigger than my questions, please help me keep this in mind.
Scripture:
Genesis 19:16 “When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the Lord was merciful.”
Observation:
Despite our faltering, our doubt, and our fear, sometimes God answers the prayers we should be praying. Some scriptures lead me to believe that a moment of hesitation can leave us abandoned by God; in Lot’s case, the Lord was merciful. Jesus Christ is still merciful today.
Application:
Despite the times when I falter, when I doubt – God is merciful. When he shows me that mercy, I want to be able to accept it, and return knowing that, had I been capable of removing myself in whatever situation, I might’ve begged God to seize my hands and rush me to safety. Because of my relationship with Him, I know that, in some cases, even though I can’t pray that prayer, God will still answer. Second, I want to be sensitive and obedient enough to God that I can rush someone else to safety, despite their hesitation.
Prayer:
Lord, in a moment of clarity, I ask you to rescue me when I’m at my dimmest – show me mercy. Seize my hands, drag me to safety.
Scripture:
Matthew 14:28-29 “‘Then Peter called to Jesus, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you by walking on water.’ ‘All right, come,’ Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus.”
Observation:
Something about having Jesus right in front of you telling you to walk on water makes this step of faith seem easier; yet, “Blessed are those who have not seen, yet have believed.” I think God is still calling people from their boat, it’s just not easy to do so.
Application:
I think our “boat” can represent a lot of things – in the not-so-distant past, it represented Peter’s living. Whatever it is, it’s certainly always the status quo, safety, comfort. It’s not that I lack faith in God, but rather my ability to hear God’s voice.
Prayer:
Lord, give me clarity to see your direction.
Scripture:
Job 5:8-9 “My advice to you is this: Go to God and present your case to him. For he does great works too marvelous to understand. He performs miracles without number.”
Observation:
Something about life obscures the magnitude of God. Despite his greatness, his provision, and his grace, all of which abound in my life, I place my “difficult situations” so close that I no longer see the possibilities of God.
Application:
Figuring out how to hold a sabbath, a day to restore my soul, is this situation right now – I need to present it to him. Beyond that God can handle this, I know that this is His desire for me.
Prayer:
Lord, Please help me figure out how to set apart my sabbath and let it be a restorative day.
