My little addition to Our Daily Bread (8/16/11):
He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest a while." For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. (Mark 6:31 HCSB)
Randy Kilgore was right in today’s ODB that we so often miss the command of God to the Twelve to meet the need rather than send the people off to meet it themselves. But in rereading the passage this verse jumped out at me: they were “off the clock!” They had just gotten back together from all the spiritual battles and preaching and healing they had been doing (vv 11-12) when “the Boss” tells them to take some time off to rest. I sometimes wonder how much of the Twelve’s appeal to send them away was genuine concern for the people, or eagerness to eliminate an obstacle between them and their vacation. Love has no time clock. As much as I may want to kick back a take some time for myself, I am called to be a loving husband and father and servant of His in spite of those desires.
As Randy also noted, John records that Jesus was testing them. They knew His heart was for the people, and I think He saw that their apparent concern for the people was actually a shrewd ploy to get their way by putting the request in terms that would help “the Boss” to agree. That plan often works, but not when it’s the Lord you are trying to manipulate. He intentionally had them use the little that they had in service to others that we might all learn how abundantly He rewards that gift.
While I often feel disappointed in myself that I don’t have more to give (whether time or money or talent or …) this is great reminder that God doesn’t ask us to supply the need, but to meet it – regardless of how convenient it is to us or how capable we are of doing it. The sprinkler head does not have to have all the water the entire lawn needs, but it does have to meet the need where it is at and then be a conduit of the supply that will fill that need. Similarly, He wants us to be a tool in His hand.
While I often feel disappointed in myself that I don’t have more to give (whether time or money or talent or …) this is great reminder that God doesn’t ask us to supply the need, but to meet it – regardless of how convenient it is to us or how capable we are of doing it. The sprinkler head does not have to have all the water the entire lawn needs, but it does have to meet the need where it is at and then be a conduit of the supply that will fill that need. Similarly, He wants us to be a tool in His hand.
- Andy
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