Do You Believe Him?

Before you start todays devotional, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Have you noticed the urgency picking up in our story of Jesus’ life? Tragic deaths and amazing miracles continue, and now escalating is the conflict surrounding Jesus’ rejection as King and His struggle with religious rulers.

Superstitious Herod sat on the throne in Galilee, out of his mind with paranoia. Jesus knew Herod's fear would cause him to do something rash. So for now, He withdrew from public. But the crowds followed Him with no thought how they were going to eat.

The disciples suggested to Jesus the crowds be dispersed. But Jesus gave them an impossible command—feed them. What? How?

What follows, of course, is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels.

All they had was a boy’s lunch—five hamburger buns and two sardines. But Jesus said, Bring what you have to Me. Amazing things happen when we willingly release what we have and let God use it.

Jesus looked up to heaven, He blessed and broke the loaves and gave it to His disciples, who in turned gave it to the crowds. Everyone ate till they were full and then Jesus sent them home. He sent His disciples to the other side of the Sea of Galilee so He could be alone to pray.

The Lord went to the mountains to pray while the disciples battled a frightening storm. (What a picture this is of us today. Our Lord is with the Father and we’re being tossed in a stormy sea.) Around 3 a.m., Jesus went out to them, walking on the sea. When they saw Him, they screamed, thinking He was a ghost.

“It’s Me—don’t be afraid,” Jesus said. Peter then asked, “If it is You, then tell me to come to You on the water” and the Lord said, “Come on.”

Peter asked a tremendous thing of God—and God said yes. Only when he took his eyes off the Lord while he walked on the water did he sink. (We need to learn from his lesson and keep our eyes on Jesus.)

When Jesus and Peter got to the boat, the wind stopped in a moment. Wonder washed over the disciples and at once they worshipped Jesus as the Son of God.

As Jesus continues to minister, His conflict with the scribes and Pharisees advances to a breaking point. Jesus isn’t shy about calling them out. He challenges their legalistic systems and says a person is not godly by what he does but by what’s in his heart.

Jesus then surprises everyone with a trip north into Gentile country. Jesus came as King of the Jews, but now He invites the Gentiles into His plan. Jesus was soon recognized by a Syrophoenician woman who made no claim on Jewish Jesus, but her daughter needed help and He was her only hope. The disciples wanted to send her away, but she persisted. Jesus sees her faith, praises her, and heals her daughter that exact hour.

Back in Galilee, the crowds again followed Jesus and needed something to eat. This situation feels like a re-run from a few days before, but the disciples raised the same old objections. Where will we get enough bread to fill up such a crowd?

Their reluctance to believe is really a form of rejection. This unbelief is sin. Don’t you wish you believed Him more? Jesus is worthy to be believed; the problem is with us.

So, like He had done before, the Lord Jesus fed the crowd. Did the disciples recognize Him then? They are slow to believe but Jesus is patient with them, as He is patient with us. Many of us need to catch up in our faith. Oh, that we might believe Him sooner!

1. What are some conclusions we can draw from the feeding of the 5,000 being the only miracle which occurs in all four Gospels?

2. What can the actions of Peter in the storm tell us about ourselves and living a life of faith, both good and bad?

3. Jesus’ miracles showed His power. When the people followed Him in Galilee, He showed His power over nature. What did His two miracles here prove to His disciples?

Additional Resources

Listen to Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s complete teachings on Matthew 14.