laughing at the disciples...

I can't lie, I was really encouraged by some of the reading I have done this week. The disicples once again make me laugh, but oh boy do I ever see how much I struggle even more than they did!!! Check out my thoughts:

In Matthew 14 Jesus feeds 5000 men + women and children with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish...as if that wasn't an incredible enough miracle Jesus then preceeded to walk out to the disciples on the water. Wow! I mean that is one heck of an amazing day right? First you get to pass out the bread and fish to the multitudes and then you have the horrific, yet-I'm-sure-thrilling-in-a-good-way, opportunity to see the exchange between Jesus and Peter as he stepped out of the boat, and even more so the chance to realize that you were worshipping the Son of God in that little fishing boat!

Then just a few short days later in Matthew 17 the people are again hungry and Jesus doesn't want them walking a long distance home after 3 days without food. "Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 'I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.'" (I know there is a lot of great stuff I'm skipping over).

This is where it gets funny for me...the disciples pipe back to Jesus "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?" ARE YOU SERIOUS??? Can the disciples really ask that question when they just worshipped the Son of God in a little fishing boat that he walked over the water to get to after he broke 5 loaves and 2 fish into food for several thousand people? I mean its unthinkalbe right? Jesus, we're in a remote place where can we possibly get that much food on such short notice here in the mountains? Funny right!

Jesus goes on to feed the crowd of thousands with 7 loaves and a few fish just like he had done a few days before. As I was laughing at the disciples for being that dense and forgetting that Jesus had fed thousands just days before with fewer loaves and fish before walking on the water and saving Peter from drowning...I realized that I often times forget the miracles that God has worked in my life and I wonder how in the world I will ever survive some situation or trial. I guess it comes naturally to me and probably to us to give ourselves a free pass for doubting that we serve and worship the same God that walked on that water who healed the lame, blind, and sick, and even fed thousands.

Our all-access pass hasn't been changed or rejected. We just need to open our eyes and pay attention to what God has done and is doing for us. He's still in the business of blowing us out of the water with what He will do. I guess what I'm trying to do is learn to look for the miracles instead of forgetting them because of whatever new challenging circumstance I'm facing. Oh yeah, and I probably better not laugh at the disciples anymore!