Jesus had just fed five thousand people in Mark 7 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. The disciples were there. They saw and participated in the miracle. In Mark 8 they see Jesus take 7 loaves of bread and feed four thousand people. The disciples saw this miracle and participated in it too. However, when they were in the boat heading to the other side of the lake, the disciples were concerned about not having enough bread.
Jesus overheard them discussing this and makes a statement that gives us some important insights. And Jesus, aware of this, *said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They *said to Him, “Twelve.” “When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they *said to Him, “Seven.” And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?” Mark8:17–21NASB1995
Hardheartedness keeps us from recognizing who God is, and understanding what God is doing. The disciples saw what Jesus did. They heard what he said, but they did not yet see or understand who they were following.
The remedy for this is to ask God to give us a tender heart, eyes to see and ears to hear. That means that God has to move us past our pride so that our hearts are not hard. It also involves remembering what God has been doing in our lives and in the life of our church. Jesus reminded the disciples of the miracles they had just seen. Remembering what God has done in and through us helps us to see God’s leading and direction through the miracles we have seen and witnessed.
Having a tender heart and remembering what God has done in us and through us helps us see the spiritual reality and not be stuck in the temporal. When we have trouble recognizing Jesus and the spiritual, we need to humble ourselves and ask for eyes to see and ears to hear.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank you for the miracles that show me who you are and what you are calling me to be. When the temporal world that I experience through my five senses, encroaches upon the spiritual, help me to have eyes to see and ears to hear what you are doing in me and around me. Amen.
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Thinking About and Being a Child of God 