SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/9/2022 8:47 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Miraculous Feeding”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
14:14-21
Message of the verses: “14 And when He
went ashore, He saw a great multitude, and felt compassion for them, and healed
their sick. 15 And when it was evening, the disciples came to Him, saying,
"The place is desolate, and the time is already past; so send the
multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for
themselves." 16 But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away;
you give them something to eat!" 17 And they said to Him, "We
have here only five loaves and two fish." 18 And He said, "Bring them
here to Me." 19 And ordering the
multitudes to recline on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish,
and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the
loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave to the
multitudes, 20 and they all ate, and
were satisfied. And they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces,
twelve full baskets. 21 And there were about five thousand men who ate, aside
from women and children.”
We see that Jesus wanted to be along with His disciples
after they learned of the death of John the Baptist. I believe that another reason for this is
that His disciples had just returned from a missionary trip as Jesus continued
to prepare them before His departure back to heaven, and so with the news of
John compiled with the need for rest, and not because Jesus was afraid of Herod
they left for some alone time. As we
will see they did not get much.
Now
as far as when Jesus would die we see that He was the One who controlled that
time period as seen in John 10:18 “"No one has taken it away from Me, but
I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have
authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.’”
As mentioned Jesus and His disciples did not get to
spend time alone as the multitudes heard that Jesus had gone to the other side
of the Sea of Galilee and “they followed Him on foot from the cities” (Matt.
14:13b), while the lame and sick would obviously take longer to get there they
still came to be healed by Jesus. “A
large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs which He was performing on
those who were sick” (John 6:2).
We
can see from the gospel accounts that the majority of the multitude were thrill
seekers, whose ranks at this time were probably swelled by Jews passing through
Galilee on their way to the annual Passover celebration in Jerusalem as seen in
John 6:4. MacArthur adds “Their
perspective was self-centered and self-indulgent. In addition to wanting to be healed or
entertained, many no doubt thought this great miracle worker would prove Himself
to be the political Messiah who would use His power to overthrow the hated
Roman oppressors and their puppet Herod.
“But
the expectations of the people neither determined nor undermined the importance
of the occasion. As He often does, God
chose to accomplish His purposes in the very face of ungodly human motives and
desires. In Matthew 14:14-21 the Lord’s
plan continues to unfold flawlessly according to His perfect divine will.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: My
Lord’s perfect timing while He was on planet earth still goes on today, and
although things don’t look so bright in our country as they used to, Jesus
Christ is still on the throne, and on the throne of my life today and every day.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to
remember that my old self died when I became a believer in Jesus Christ. “For if a man is in Christ he becomes a new
person altogether — the past is finished and gone, everything has
become fresh and new” (2 Cor. 5:17 Philips).
6/9/2022 9:12 AM
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