November 25, 2024 7:00 pm
When my friend and her husband struggled to conceive, doctors recommended she have a medical procedure done. But my friend was hesitant. “Shouldn’t prayer be enough to fix our problem?” she said. “Do I really need to do the procedure?” My friend was trying to work out what role human action has in seeing God work.
The story of Jesus feeding the crowd can help us here (Mark 6:35–44). We may know how the story ends—thousands of people are miraculously fed with just a little bread and some fish (v. 42). But notice, who is to feed the crowd? The disciples (v. 37). And who provides the food? They do (v. 38). Who distributes the food, and cleans up afterwards? The disciples (vv. 39–43). “You give them something to eat,” Jesus said (v. 37). Jesus did the miracle, but it happened as the disciples’ acted.
A good crop is a gift from God (Psalm 65:9–10), but a farmer must still work the land. Jesus promised Peter “a catch” of fish but the fisherman still had to cast his nets (Luke 5:4–6). God can tend the earth and do miracles without us but typically chooses to work in a divine-human partnership.
My friend went through with the procedure and later successfully conceived. While this is no formula for a miracle, it was a lesson to my friend and me. God often does His miraculous work through the methods He’s placed in our hands.
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Welcome to Our Daily Bread.
I'm Sheridan Voisey and I've called today's devotional, Partnership with God. When my friend and her husband struggled to conceive, doctors recommended she have a medical procedure done. But my friend was hesitant. Shouldn't prayer be enough to fix our problem? She said.
Do I really need to do the procedure? My friend was trying to work out what role human action has in seeing God work. The story of Jesus feeding the crowd in Mark chapter 6 can help us here.
We may know how the story ends. Thousands of people are miraculously fed with just a little bread and some fish. But notice who is to feed the crowd? The disciples. And who provides the food?
They do. Who distributes the food and cleans up afterward? The disciples. You give them something to eat, Jesus said. Jesus did the miracle, but it happened as the disciples acted. A good crop is a gift from God, but a farmer must still work the land. In Luke chapter 5, Jesus promised Peter a catch of fish, but the fishermen still had to cast his nets. God can tend the earth and do miracles without us, but typically chooses to work in a divine human partnership.
My friend went through with the procedure and later successfully conceived. While this is no formula for a miracle, it was a lesson for my friend and me. God often does His miraculous work through the methods He's placed in our hands. Today's scripture reading is from Mark chapter 6 verses 35 to 44. By this time it was late in the day, so His disciples came to Him.
This is a remote place, they said, and it's already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat. But He answered, You give them something to eat. They said to Him, That would take more than half a year's wages. Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat? How many loaves do you have? He asked.
Go and see. When they found out, they said, Five and two fish. Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.
So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 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 His disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish.
The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand. Let's pray together. Father, I find it amazing that You would include us in Your amazing work of running the world, of reaching others and even doing miracles.
You are so relational. You bring us in on all the fun. Would You please take what is in our hands today and do mighty, mighty wonders through them? Lord, we pray this, trusting and expectant. And in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening. I'm Sheridan Voisey and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-11-25 21:15:42 / 2024-11-25 21:17:22 / 2