When I look at the last few verses of Matthew 15 I am bewildered by how the disciples the top 12 or even the elite three didn't seem to remember what happened not that long ago. In another deserted area with a large crowed who had been listening to Jesus and watching him heal the sick. Jesus again noted the physical needs of the people the took care of healing the sick and then recognizes that the people are hungry and decides to feed them before they are sent away.
Wasn't just the last chapter where we see 5000 feed. This is almost like an instant replay. Healing, Hungry, Lets feed them. The disciples respond with where are we to get enough food. Why didn't they remember the last time Jesus asked this question? I mean wouldn't we respond with something like. "Jesus we don't have enough food to feed everyone but remember the fish and loaves thing you did to feed all those people last time. Well we have 7 loaves of bread and a few fish do you think you can do it again?"
Stop for a moment and reflect on your life. Your temptations, your circumstances, your physical needs, your financial needs. Has he provided in the past? Then why are there times where we face a similar situation, only the name on the bill or the amount of time unemployed is different, do we not remember his provision.
Is it just me? I don't think so. Look back to the Old Testament. How about the book of judges. God raised up a Judge. They would save Israel from their enemies, their persecutors, their punishment for turning from God. Israel would see how they had turned from God and would return to him only to, often with in a generation or two, turn away again. Then they would cry out. It is like the instructions on the shampoo to rinse and repeat until the hair is clean.
The good news is that God is willing to rinse and repeat for far longer than any of us would have the patience to. The other good news is that through the death and resurrection and then the ascension of Christ to the Father we have been given a few things that Israel and the disciples had at this point in Matthew 15. We have been given freedom from sin through the blood of Jesus. He has become the righteousness in our lives and for our lives. We have been given direct access to God, we are his adopted sons and daughters. We have been given the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, and now it is not just a fleeting moment of "the spirit of God came upon" it is a permanent indwelling.
I and the Lord both know my struggle with remembering the past and seeing His hand in my life. But he is repeating the cycle in my life as I am learning and seeing more of what he has done, is doing and will do in my life and the lives of others. I am also; with God's love, patience and mercy being given to me; learning how to see and use what was given to me so I can succeed.
2 Peter 1:3-8
3 For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue).4 By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature.5 For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence),6 And in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety),7 And in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love.8 For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).9 For whoever lacks these qualities is blind, [spiritually] shortsighted, seeing only what is near to him, and has become oblivious [to the fact] that he was cleansed from his old sins.
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