What Will God Do Next?

 

You will never cease to be the most amazed person on earth at what God has done for you on the inside.  --Oswald Chambers

What is the single most amazing thing God has done for you?  Every answer will be personal, and some stories may not seem so amazing to those who did not experience it first-hand.  When we get to Heaven, we will be able to share our own amazing God stories to Christians we have not met, and I believe we will be amazed even more at how God's plan in our own lives intersected with His plan working out in others' lives.  The list of God's astounding works will have many "but wait, there's more!" moments.

God's work is never stagnant or stale, and when we see what happens next (after seeing the groundwork that He has already laid) we cannot help but praise Him more.  This truth is evident in our study of Mark 6.  You will recall the story in verses 7 through 13 of how Jesus commissioned His disciples to go, two by two, and preach the Good News to villages and towns, and to heal the sick and cast out demons as they went.  Verse 30 brings us back to that episode, and leads us into the next miraculous event in the ministry of Jesus through the twelve disciples.

Come Away With Me

The apostles returned to Jesus and told Him all that they had done and taught.  And He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while."  For many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat.  And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.  --Mark 6:30-32

What great joy and encouragement these men must have shared as they recounted their time of ministry and healing in the Name of Jesus.  Each one must have had a story more amazing than the last.  Jesus, not wanting them to burn out, suggested that they get away for a time of R&R.  They could still fellowship, but many of them must have been too excited to sleep, and the Bible says there was so much going on that they could not even grab a bite to eat.

Self care is very important.  I remember when the pastor and staff of a church I attended would always take a retreat in January.  After the hustle and bustle of the holidays, the ministry team would go to a hotel or conference center in another town to get away, relax, put the prior year into perspective, and plan for the upcoming year.  Some members of the church must have grumbled and complained about the cost of the retreat, although I am sure they were more upset about having to listen to a guest speaker on that Sunday.  Anyway, the pastor mentioned from the pulpit the rationale for getting away, and also pointed out that Jesus also went away by Himself, even though there were people with needs at the time.  In His human form, Jesus could not be everywhere at once, and we certainly can't, either.  We must take time for ourselves even while doing His work. 

No Rest for the Weary

Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.  When He went ashore He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  --Mark 6:33-34a

Did you know the word pastor means shepherd?  When your pastor is away tending to his own personal needs, he does not stop being your pastor, just as Jesus did not stop showing compassion for the crowds.  People are often called sheep in the Bible, because we tend to follow the herd.  When we stray away, we place ourselves in danger of predators.  We also, like sheep, are prone to wander into desolate areas without food or water.  We desperately need a shepherd, someone to tend to our needs even as the one who shepherds us may go without sustenance.  We see the contrast in this passage--the disciples did not have time to eat, while the multitudes that followed them had no food to eat.

Logistically Lacking, Providentially Packing 

And He began to teach them many things.  And when it grew late, His disciples came to Him and said, "This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late.  Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."  But He answered them, "You give them something to eat." And they said to Him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?"  And He said to them, "How many loaves to you have?  Go and see."  And when they had found out, they said, "Five, and two fish."--Mark 6:34b-38

The disciples had to be exhausted and hungry themselves.  They may have been truly concerned for the welfare of the multitude, or they may have asked Jesus to send them away so that they could have the rest that He had promised them.  They made the point to Jesus that they were not prepared to feed so many.  In my life I have been to many different conferences and seminars.  Some would take a break and ask the attendees to go find a restaurant or diner nearby and be back in two hours, while some would provide lunch for us.  Generally, the cost of the seminar would be higher if a meal were provided, because as the saying goes, "There ain't no free lunch."

Jesus wanted to show the disciples God's Providence.  Had He not told them in verse 8 to take nothing for their journey except a staff--no bread, no bag, no money in their belts?  He wanted them to place the needs of the crowds above their own needs.  "You give them something to eat," He commanded.  They responded by estimating the cost: a little bread for each person in a crowd this size would have cost nearly a whole year's wages (a denarius was a day's wage, and they estimated 200 denarii).  He wanted them to focus on what they had, not the limits of it but the potential.  They took stock of the food on hand, and it came to five rolls and two fish.

He Is More Than Enough

Then He commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass.  So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties.  And taking the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people.  And He divided the two fish among them all.  And they all ate and were satisfied.  And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish.  And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.  --Mark 6:39-44

The Greek word for "blessing" here is eulogeo, from which we get the English word "eulogy".  It means to praise, or to celebrate with praises.  It also means to invoke God's blessings--to ask God's blessing on a thing, to pray God to bless it to one's use.  Finally, it means to pronounce a consecratory blessing (to consecrate it to God) to cause it to prosper, to make happy, to be favored of God.

What a great pattern for prayer this is!  First and foremost to praise God, to celebrate Him with our praises.  Next to invoke His blessing on us, that God may bless us to His use.  Last, to consecrate ourselves to Him, so that when we prosper, He prospers; when we are made happy, He is made happy; when we are favored, we are favored by God.  To see it in another way, when we are faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem, we ought not to despair.  Rather, we should take stock of what we have (since it was provided to us by God in the first place) and to praise God for it, to ask Him to bless it for His use, and to consecrate it for joy and prosperity.

There was bread and meat enough to satisfy 5000 men, with enough leftovers collected to fill twelve baskets.  I think that twelve represents the twelve tribes of Israel, meaning that Jesus, the Bread of Life, is enough for the entire nation.  In the coming weeks when we study Mark chapter 8, we will see a similar miracle for the Gentiles, the feeding of 4000 men, with leftovers filling seven baskets.  The significance of seven in that story is that He is enough for all, since seven represents perfection, the sum of God (represented by the number 3) and Man (represented by the number 4).  The two stories together show that Jesus was not only sent to the Jews, but also to the entire world.

He is enough.  We must look to Him for our provision, for our sustenance, for our blessing.  We must look to Him for our past, our present, and our future.  We can only marvel when we see His handiwork, and wonder, "What next?"