Written by Mark Driskill:
Read Mark 6:30-44
Whenever the Lord sets out to do a mighty work through his people he often begins by getting his servants in line with his way of doing things. In the story of this miraculous feeding it is interesting to see the shift in perspective the disciples had to make. The first shift they had to make was to get in his pace. They had just come back from a mission project and he tells them, “Come away and rest”. You know the Lord isn’t calling us to burn out for him. He is calling us to work when he works, play when he plays and rest when he rests. He didn’t rust out or burn out. He followed the Spirit.
The second shift was in what they saw. When Jesus looked out on the crowds he had compassion on them because he saw them as sheep with out a shepherd. I think our churches would be more compassionate if we saw our people that way instead of seeing them as prospects who can help run our programs. Jesus didn’t see people as things to be used for his success but as people to be loved for his kingdom. If we are going to follow him we must break out of our church business mindset and begin to see people as Jesus saw them. In the earl church the question asked by the believers was, “Who needs us?” Then they went out to those who needed them. Now many churches ask, “Who do we need?” and they recruit accordingly. This has to change if we are to follow Jesus.
Third they had to change tier role from advising to serving. The disciples saw a situation and thought they could best help Jesus by serving in an advisory capacity, where most of us prefer to serve. They said to the Lord, “Send the crowds away to the nearby villages…” How presumptuous we are when we think we should tell the Lord what he needs to do about a situation. Does that ever happen in your prayer life? It is one thing to make requests of the Lord and quite another to begin telling him how to handle things. He rarely follows our clever advice and wise counsel no matter how practical it sounds to us. Jesus doesn’t always operate along the lines of practical human wisdom. We may think it is perfectly reasonable to take a course of action, e.g. “send the crowd out for lunch” but our Lord prefers to kill our sense of reason and replace it with thinking that falls along the lines of faith. How often he has ignored our reasonable ideas and led us out on a limb of faith where all we have is his grace and power to lean on.
Another thing the Lord had to kill in the disciples was their sense of convenience. “Send the crowds away Lord, so we can relax.” Usually when I am advising the Lord on what HE should do it usually means that I don’t have to invest myself in the situation. I can just tell the Lord what to do and then keep my hands clean. But Jesus often does to me what he did to them. He said; “You give them something to eat.” He says in effect, No I think we’ll take a step of faith and you will have to get your hands dirty if you want to see a miracle. So grab a basket and get to work. Listen; if you want the Lord to do a miracle in your life it will usually require that you get involved in the process in some way. Many never see miracles from God because they are willing to ask, but not willing to obey.
Finally the disciples got into the right mindset when Jesus handed the fish and bread to the disciples to hand out and they obeyed. When you ask for miracles expect God to give you something to do as an act of faith. It will likely be something mundane like handing out food, helping a neighbor rake leaves or read a story to a child. Not so glamorous huh? But when you obey you will see the hand of God doing unimaginable things. Get into the position of service and let God handle the rest.
Challenge: Today when you get into a crunch ask the Lord to help you see it his way and act accordingly.
Mark Driskill and his wife Mary are homeschooling community ministers in Breathitt County Kentucky. They have four children. They co pastor Emmanuel fellowship Church, serve as Camp Pastors at Bethel Mennonite Camp, and Mark Teaches at Oakdale Christian Academy. Mark is web minister for Begotten by the Word , a ministry of Helping Hands Christian Resources. Once a month he preaches on the local radio station through the “Lion of Judah” program.
Mark also preaches in youth rallies and revivals upon request at no charge. Their vision is to see true spiritual awakening come to the mountains of Eastern Kentucky and to the nation.
Contact information:
Email: driskill@hilbillymail.com
Facebook: Mark Driskill
Address: PO Box 1159 Jackson KY.
