March 31, 2013
Scripture:
Hymn 372 – How wondrous a Saviour is God’s blessed Son
Prayer
Last week we learned that Jehovah-Jireh means “the Lord will provide.” We saw it in practice, when the Lord provided food for Elisha and his class during a famine. Today, day we will read another example of the Lord’s provision, from the New Testament.
Matthew 14:13-21
Jesus and His disciples went into a desert place. Many people followed Jesus into the desert to hear Him speak and to bring their sick to be healed. As it got closer to the evening, the disciples were getting worried. They didn’t have enough food to feed this crowd of over 5000 people. They wanted to send everyone home, but Jesus had different plans: He told the disciples to give the people something to eat. The disciples’ problem was that they were looking at their own hands, which didn’t have the ability to provide any food. Instead, they should have been looking to Jesus, because He was the only one that had the ability to provide. The disciples missed it, and we do too sometimes. We need to remember that the Lord will provide and be open to the way He provides it. His way this time was through five small loaves of bread and two tiny fish.
Before they passed the food out, Jesus told everyone to sit down in groups of ten. We see the Lord doing everything decently and in order. This is very important. Then Jesus gave thanks for the food. He acknowledged that there was One that provided the food. After Jesus gave thanks for the food, He gave it to the disciples to pass out. The amazing thing is that they kept giving more out, until everyone had food. It almost sounds like the story of the widow’s oil that never ran out as she poured it into other jars to sell.
So after everyone had finished eating, they gathered the leftovers and there were twelve baskets full. From this story we can be reassured that when the Lord calls us to serve, he provides the means to serve.
Luke 22:31-46
We know something about a few of the disciples—like the “inner circle” of Peter, James, and John—but how much do you know about someone like Thaddeus? Perhaps we know most about Peter because we can best relate to him and the things he did. We would certainly be at loss without the story of his life. He was a main figure at Pentecost, was at the revival in Samaria, spoke to Cornelius, and was the Apostle to the Circumcision. He had to go through this trial, though. He failed miserably, but he put on the biggest front and was usually the speaker for the twelve. Here he claimed that he would rather die than deny his Lord. The Lord explained that Peter would deny Him; but He called him Simon, his natural name, because He was speaking to Peter in the flesh.
When you sift something you usually get rid of the bad and keep the good. Satan wanted to sift Peter (which sounds strange), but the Lord had prayed for him. The Lord didn’t pray that Peter wouldn’t fail, but that his faith wouldn’t fail. The Lord probably prays for us in our temptations, but His prayer for us in John 17 shows that He doesn’t pray that we would be taken out of the world, but that we would be kept from the evil in the world.
Once Peter was restored (Darby’s translation of “converted”) he was to strengthen his brethren. God has a purpose for our trials; and they often come to make us stronger, so that we are better able to help others. They also help us to be less critical of others; because it makes us realize that, but for the grace of God, we would be far away in sin. Peter helped others greatly through his ministry and epistles.
Darby mentions that Peter found he was all bad, even when he had the best intentions; and he found perfect grace even when he did the worst.
Our Lord changes the subject in verses 35-38 by warning His disciples that the special protection that had been over them while He was on earth was ending. They weren’t supposed to go to war, but they might have to defend themselves, and they would have to provide for themselves.
Verse 37 shows us that the Lord would die a martyr, as well as a sacrifice for sin. Most heroes of the reformation were considered heretics by the Catholic Church for preaching justification by faith. Our Lord—the eternal Son of God, Who is from eternity passed and will be in eternity future—would die hanging between two transgressors. The things concerning Him on earth would have an end at that cross.
After supper Jesus and the disciples went to the Mount of Olives as was His custom. John tells us that He went there often and that Judas knew the place. Our Lord had a place where He wanted to meet with His own, and He made that place known to them. It’s good when His own seek that place.
As Jesus went to pray, He told the disciples to pray that they would not enter into temptation. Peter put himself in temptation when he went into the High Priest’s house and warmed himself by the fire. We may think ourselves strong and go places without the Lord, but it’s dangerous ground!
Satan got Judas, and he wanted to get Peter. He is like a roaring lion, going about seeking whom he may devour. We need to be preserved from him; may the Lord keep each one of us!
Hymn 370–Yield not to temptation
Prayer