So Jesus…. What Are You Going To Do Now?
Matthew 15th Chapter
29 And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there.
30 And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them:
31 Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel.
32 Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.
33 And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?
34 And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.
35 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.
36 And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
37 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full.
Have you ever been in a situation where it seemed as though there was no way out? And just when you had an idea, scheme, or plan to get you out, as soon as you put it into effect everything got worse? Some of us might be there right now. You may be right in the midst of a strained relationship with a friend or relative, and it seems that every time you attempt to “bury the hatchet,” the hatchet gets buried in you. Or you could be in a financial situation where you currently have more month than you have money left.
In our text, we see Jesus concerned about “a multitude” of people because they had a need. They had been following Him for quite some time, and now a pivotal point had come. The time had now come for Jesus to either feed them or leave them. Of course knowing Jesus, we know that He was not going to leave these people, especially being that they followed Him up until this point. So in saying that, we still see two mentalities that are present here. Those who believed that Jesus would not do anything and those who knew He would.
In the 33rd verse of our text, we see the mentality, “I need to do something.” From this text the disciples say to Jesus (paraphrase), “Where are we going to find enough bread in the wilderness to feed these people?” Now, I’m not going to beat the disciples up for struggling to get the job done, but just maybe if they would have asked the right question, they would not have experienced that temporal struggle. Quite often, we as Christians struggle with God’s plan because we are not asking the right questions and because we have the wrong mentality. Instead of trying to see what God is going to do, we feel that we need to do something, and that is when the struggle begins.
Instead of learning how to be still and see the salvation of God, we feel that we always have to have our hand in it to make this thing happen. Now, please take this with a heavy dosage of balance. There will be times when God will tell you, “Stand Still.” That is when all you need to do is “Stand Still!” But then, there is a time when God will say, “Go! Put legs to the vision!” That is the time that you must Go! But during that time in which you need to stand still and see Him move, you should do just that.
Now in the 35th verse, we see the other mentality: “Jesus, what are you going to do?” Jesus tells the multitude to sit down, and the amazing thing is this…. “They did!” They sat down! All 4000 of them plus women and children. And after doing so, Jesus executed one of the most well-known miracles in the bible. Why? Because the multitude operated in obedience and not explanation. They were more concerned with doing what He told them to do so that they could get whatever He had for them. They had followed Him this far, and they knew by faith that “if we do what He tells us to do, we will get whatever He has to meet our lack.”
Right now, I want you to see yourself as one of the multitude who has been following Jesus for quite sometime. One who saw Him do miracles and even experienced miracles first hand. But somewhere we forgot that He will meet our lack. Somewhere we started believing that only we could meet our lack and not Him. And in the process, we began to explain to our friends and even our foes what we were doing because it was we who were attempting to meet the lack and not Jesus.
Well today beloved of God, I set you in remembrance of the Savior who not only meets needs but also exceeds them. Only He would perform a miracle that would forever be chronicled in time— to bring to some folk a “fish samich.” The thing we have to remember is — He did it, He’s doing it, or He’s going to do it!
Again, what we need to do is operate in His obedience. If He tells you to “sit down,” then do just that. When and if He tells you to go, then and only then should you go. Until then, Sit Down, See the Demonstration of His power, and after all is said and done, Share how He Delivered you because surely He has not brought you this far to leave you.
32 “Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.”