Devotional Meditations: Matthew 15:32-39

Some of my thoughts from my personal devotions in Matthew 15.

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way." ³³And the disciples said to him, "Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?" ³⁴And Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish." ³⁵And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. ³⁸Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. ³⁹And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan. (Matt 15:32-39)

In this passage Matthew has recorded Jesus miraculously feeding 4,000 men, plus women and children. This is a very familiar passage to most Christians, so you may be wondering why it caught my attention to the point that I would write about it.

This is an astonishing account which serves as an example of the disciples' persistence in unbelief. Notice the disciples response to Jesus' suggestion that they not send the multitude away hungry (Matt 15:33). You may be thinking, "That's not such an unreasonable response. After all,  the disciples only had seven loaves of bread and a few small fish (Matt 15:34), how could they expect to feed over 4,000 people with such a relatively small amount of food?"

It is true, it would be very difficult to comprehend feeding so many people with so little food - if they had never seen it done before. This account of feeding over 4,000 people comes after Jesus miraculously fed MORE people (over 5,000) with LESS food (only 5 loaves and 2 fish) in Matt 14:13-21! How unbelieving the disciples must have been! They had just witnessed Jesus miraculously multiplying bread and fish to feed over 5,000 people (and have twelve baskets of leftovers!). Yet, when faced with a less daunting task, they respond by saying, "where will we get enough bread?" (Matt 15:33).

How many times do we demonstrate this same pervasive unbelief in our own lives? We know that God cares even for the birds of the air (Matt 6:26) and the lilies of the field (Matt 6:28), yet we worry about the economy and how it will effect our financial standing. We know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him (Rom 8:28), yet we doubt God's goodness and maybe even His existence when we experience difficult and tragic circumstances. We are not unlike the unbelieving disciples.

Like the disciples, we've seen Jesus work miracle after miracle; yet, when faced with daunting circumstances, we often respond with the very same question: "where will we get enough bread?" (Matt 15:33).

Jesus answers, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe." (John 6:35-36).

Oh, that God would work faith in me so that I believe His promises!

BY HIS GRACE (1 Cor 15:10) – FOR HIS GLORY (1 Tim 1:17)