cut some slack

Matthew 15

32 Then Jesus called his disciples and told them,

     "I feel sorry for these people.

     They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat.

     I don't want to send them away hungry, or they will faint along the way."

 
33 The disciples replied, "Where would we get enough food here in the wilderness for such a huge crowd?"


  34 Jesus asked, "How much bread do you have?"


  They replied, "Seven loaves, and a few small fish."


  35 So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground.

     36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish,

      thanked God for them,

      and broke them into pieces.

He gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd.


  37 They all ate as much as they wanted.

Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food.

38 There were 4,000 men who were fed that day,

        in addition to all the women and children.


39 Then Jesus sent the people home, and he got into a boat and crossed over to the region of Magadan.



In Matthew 13 there is a similar account of Jesus feeding a large group of people.

     then is was a crowd of 5000 men, in addition to women & children.

     & there were 12 baskets of food left over.


I would like to think that if I'd seen Jesus feed those people in chapter 13, when the situation happened again, I would look Jesus in the eye & just tell him if he could perform a miracle feed those folks in chapter 13, He could certainly do it again in chapter 15.


But before we give the disciples down the country for their lack of  faith, or their thick headedness, consider this...


On more than one occasion, God has pulled us out of some pretty tight situations.

     He has come through with some pretty amazing stuff, stuff we've known could only have come because of His favor.


But we're just like the disciples - when faced with a tough situation, we still fret & worry about whether He'll take care of us like He has before.


How many times does the Lord have to come through for us before we just naturally trust Him to do it?