Originally published Friday, 01 December 2017.
Have you ever felt all alone? Like no one understands what you are going through?
I know the feeling. I know what it is to keep things inside because admitting them is hard. I know what it is to feel embarrassment about what's happening in your mind. I know the hurt that wells up when you’ve tried 100 times to express your heart, but it always gets rejected. I know what it is to feel embarrassed. To keep things in. To stuff problems away. . .
What are you keeping to yourself? How do you feel stuck in your own world? Hungry for someone to deeply understand you?
Yesterday, I read a story I'd read a million and one times in the bible. It was the story where Jesus multiplied seven loaves and a few small fish to feed four thousand. But this time, I saw things, like never before…
1. Jesus said, “they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way (Mt. 15:32).”
I noticed: Jesus cares for the hungry. He DOES NOT want us to collapse.
What are you hungry for? What makes you feel like you might collapse?
2. Jesus, as He surveyed the predicament said, I feel sorry for these people. (Mt. 15:32 KJV)” Or, in another translation, he said, “I have compassion for these people (Mt. 14:32 NIV)”
I noticed: Jesus has compassion for hungry people. He feels for their situation. While Jesus could have let these people go home hungry, He, as the bread of life, was true to character -- He fed his children. He was moved by compassion.
Likewise, Jesus cares and has compassion for our struggles.
Where do you need to know that God deeply feels for your situation?
3. “The disciples replied, “Where would we get enough food here in the wilderness for such a huge crowd?”
I noticed: The disciples saw the wilderness nature of where they were -- the lack, the nothingness and the impossibility of finding sustenance in this place. Jesus saw things differently. He saw the potential of his abundant provision. Jesus can do all things, at all times, with an all-out rescue, at any moment.
Where do you need to know God can create something out of your wilderness?
Did you know? The people “ate as much as they wanted.” They didn't leave at first sight of no food. They stuck around.
What might it look like for you to stick around Jesus to see what he could do in your life? What would it look like for you to draw near to a compassionate and loving Jesus, who wants to help you? May you know, you are in the hands of a God, who loves you and sees you and all your inner needs.
“The LORD is compassionate and gracious (Ps. 103:8).”
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