JUNE 21 JQ#17-2 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JUNE 21    JQ#17-2 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, Lord each day You are there to draw us closer, even if we have drifted and stumbled in our earthly weakness and Lord Your Faithfulness to be there for us shines like a beacon of Hope for us, no matter how dark the night. Lord forgive me not abandoning myself totally to You and the Father’s Work for You are Worthy and You have blessed me so abundantly that there is nothing to hold me back except my selfishness. You have NEVER failed to provide for my needs yet Lord I find myself worrying about tomorrow at the expense of the joy I could have in You today. Lord Jesus, grant it that my “faith in You” will grow to be called “great” and that all my desires will be for You and that there be no thought of self except for the fact that I have abandoned my “self” to You.       AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JUNE 21   JQ#17-2 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34)   When we look at this simple question and think to ourselves “This is really a simple question” we fail to miss the Great Lesson that Jesus is teaching! The more I read the scriptures the more I realize that there are lessons in every story, in the order of the stories, the number of stories, the people of the stories, and certainly in all the words that our Lord and Savior used to convey the “Truth of God” to the lost and dying world He came to SAVE! Study the Word enough and one glaring question emerges as one of those “Truths of God” and that question is “Why would the all-knowing God of all creation, send His Son to the earth with the Plan of Salvation and the Gift of Eternal Life, and then waste His time and energy by asking such insignificant questions like ‘How many loaves do you have?’” Indeed, why would the Master Teacher ask about bread when He Himself has declared, “I Am the Bread of Life”? The simple question becomes significant when we realize that God does not need us for anything, especially knowledge about His creation, nor does God need us to supply information to Him about loaves of bread, so the question then must be viewed not as a question for His benefit but for ours. To start understanding the “simple” question we must look to our faith in the Divine Character of God and know that Jesus coming to earth, taking on   flesh, suffering on the cross, and defeating death and the grave was not so that we could inform Him of the numbers of loaves of bread we have! If Jesus asks us what appears to us as a “simple” question we should immediately stop and look at the context of the question and who is asking it. In this instance, Jesus had healed a woman’s daughter of severe “demon-possession” and stated to the woman, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” and then Matthew records “And her daughter was healed that very hour.” (Matthew 15:28) As soon as Jesus had healed the woman’s daughter and made His declaration about her “faith”, He “departed from there…went up on the mountain…then great multitudes came to Him.” (Matthew 15:30) Why the multitudes came to Him is obvious because Jesus had been healing, casting out demons, and doing “Kingdom Work” and it was obvious to those that were coming to Him that He had something to give them and that something was from God and well worth seeking Him out for. Matthew records that the multitudes that came to Him brought “…with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them. So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing and they glorified the God of Israel.” (Matthew 15:29-31) Then in this setting of the multitudes glorifying God for the great works Jesus had been doing in the Father’s Name and for the Kingdom’s Sake,  “Jesus called His disciples to Himself” and made this statement to them before asking them the “simple” question about bread —Jesus said, “I have compassion on the multitudes, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” (Matthew 15:32) Note that Jesus did not have to ask the question until His disciples failed the “faith” test because they failed to look at the situation as an opportunity to glorify God but instead questioned the ability of God to provide for the multitudes that He had just healed! The disciples, instead of asking how God was going to accomplish this great feat, they asked, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?” (Matthew 15:33) It was at this point that Jesus begins His lesson and He started it with the {JQ#17} question “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) Once we see the context of the question and consider “who” is asking and “why” is He asking us about the numbers of loaves in our possession, the question is no longer simple but is very serious! The real question here is “Do you question the ONE that has never failed to provide for the needs of the world or are you going to try to accomplish God’s Work with your meager means?” After all,  if you’re going to feed the multitudes yourself, then I guess it would be smart to inventory how much bread you have the ability to provide!