Daily Instructions

Today's Verses -- Mt 14:13-25

Context:
Jesus has been teaching in his hometown, but because many people remembered him as a child they had no faith in his sovereignty. He didn't do many miracles there. Herod had arrested John the Baptist and had him beheaded at his daughter's request.

Text:

13When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a
solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.
14When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed
their sick.
15As evening approached, the disciples came to him and
said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds
away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."
16Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something
to eat."
17"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they
answered.
18"Bring them here to me," he said. 19And he directed the
people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and
looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to
the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20They all ate and
were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces
that were left over. 21The number of those who ate was about five thousand men,
besides women and children.
22Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into
the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.
23After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.
When evening came, he was there alone, 24but the boat was already a considerable
distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking
on the lake. (NIV)

taken from www.biblegateway.com

I've always wondered if Jesus knew what was in store for him each day. We read that he liked to go away to quiet places in the morning to pray. Did God give him instructions for the day, or did he just strengthen Jesus so that he could handle whatever came up? Can't you just imagine God laying out the agenda for this particular day:

9:00 am -- take off in a boat and thousands of people will follow you along the shore.
9:45 am -- dock the boat and start preaching and healing
5:00 pm -- acknowledge that the crowd is hungry
5:10 pm -- see a little boy with a lunch box. Turn that into enough food to feed the crowd.
9:00 pm -- send everyone home and have the apostles take off in the boat while you pray
4:00 am -- walk on water to catch up with the boat

I have a feeling it wasn't spelled out quite so clearly.

On this day Jesus was discouraged because his closest friends from childhood couldn't see the truth. Did he try to do some miracles but they didn't work because of the lack of faith by the people? It's a terribly frustrating feeling to know that you could help someone if they only wanted help. Add to that the news that his cousin died in a totally wasteful way, and it's easy to imagine that Jesus needed some time with his Father to understand why bad things happen to good people.

All Jesus wanted to do was to get some time alone to grieve and pray. But the crowds had other ideas. Jesus laid aside his desires to meet the needs of others with a compassionate attitude.

When your day gets interrupted, how well do you handle it? Most times I'll deal with the interruption, but not very compassionately. After grumbling and complaining (hopefully silently), I'll do whatever is necessary and then I harp on how I didn't do what I thought I needed to do before being interrupted.

God is trying to tell me that my real work IS the interruptions. There are many lessons he's trying to teach me and I'm apparently a slow learner. He wants me to see that whatever agenda I set for myself is useless -- he wants me to be ready to deal with the needs of others throughout the day. I need to really understand that he is in control of everything, including my schedule. He's also trying to teach me to manage my time better. If I stop putting the important things off until later, I could actually accomplish my agenda AND his! Then there's that attitude problem. If I can't learn to be compassionate in my heart about the interruptions soon, I have a feeling I'm going to be facing a lifetime of foiled plans!

How do you deal with interruptions? Do you see them as an opportunity to join God in his work, or a pesky distraction?

God's Creation

Today's Verses -- Psalm 139:1-18

Context:
This psalm was written by David.

Text:
1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. (NIV)

taken from www.biblegateway.com

Our task this week from yesterday's Sunday school lesson is to understand the purpose of the book from which we each get the texts we are studying.

Do you ever wonder about your purpose? If a book of the Bible were written about you, what would it's purpose be?

God created each of us and he planned in advance our talents and skills. He knows our experiences, our emotions, and our thoughts. He caused each of us to be born into a particular place and time for a reason which we may not know until we get to Heaven. It may be huge -- to evangelize a nation like Billy Graham. Or it may be infinitely small -- to offer a cup of water or a kind word to someone in need.

Many people search desperately for their purpose, feeling less than whole if they don't know why they exist. Others seek opportunities to be purposeful each day, presuming that somewhere along the line they will achieve the objective of existence.

Where are you in the process of discovering your purpose? Does it matter to you? Do you believe God has shown it to you yet? How do you know what it is?