Do You Trust Me?

Found among my mother's things. Good
lessons for trusting in the Lord. 

 

Scripture:

Luke 9:10   On their return the apostles told Jesus all they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida. ¹¹ When the crowds found out about it, they followed him; and he welcomed them, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed to be cured.

Luke 9:12   The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place.” ¹³ But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” ¹⁴ For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” ¹⁵ They did so and made them all sit down. ¹⁶ And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. ¹⁷ And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.

Observation:

The disciples had just gone out and participated in God’s mission by traveling to different communities. You can sense their excitement as they are able to tell Jesus everything that happened — and specifically, all that they had done. They must have been able to do miracles of healing, and one can only imagine how exciting that must have been. One of the lessons they learned was that of participating in hospitality. They were to learn what it meant to relax and be willing to receive the hospitality of others. The lesson on hospitality was now going to be expanded beyond their wildest imagination. 

This vision of hospitality is reminiscent of the messianic banquet that we find again and again throughout Luke’s gospel. There is also a connection to the history of God’s provision for his people found in the Old Testament, all the way back to the manna that was provided in the wilderness. Every time that these incidents occurred they were to build the faith of God’s people, and help them realize that they were to trust in God. 

While the disciples have just experienced the hospitality of others, Jesus now asks the disciples to engage in a hospitable act by feeding the crowd. They are stunned because they have nothing to give — or so it seems. To participate in hospitality is God’s mission, and table hospitality is especially significant. The question is really about trust in Jesus and his abilities. Jesus gives them responsibility in the sharing of the food, and shows them how to practice this hospitality, and the result is that they are cared for as well, with a basket of broken pieces for each them. As they participated in the mission with hospitality, God provided. 

Application:

“Do you trust me?” That’s a question I’ve heard from the Lord on several occasions in my life and it has always lead to a season of stretching and growth. If we truly learn to listen to the voice of the Lord every day, we will discover that God is constantly leading, and sometimes in the most unexpected of ways. It is in that journey that the Lord is watching as to whether we really trust him. 

Unfortunately, it’s easy to find myself right there with the disciples. Even when I have seen God at work, I am tempted to not trust in the next situation. Why is that? How can I go from experiencing the provision of God to wondering whether God will do it again? Maybe that happens to most of us, but the lesson the disciples were to learn, and that we are as well, is that we can trust God. That means that we can depend upon God just as much today as we did yesterday, and we can depend upon God to be with us through tomorrow as well. 

Prayer:

Lord, you have done so much in my life that I should have no moments of doubt. Help me to trust in you in all things — even the smallest details of life. Amen.