#DailyDevotion Jesus The LORD Takes Care Of Us In The Wilderness
Mark 6:35-44
35When it was quite late, His disciples came to Him. “This is a deserted place,” they said, “and it’s late. 36Send them away to the farms and villages around us to buy themselves something to eat.”37“You give them something to eat,” Jesus answered them.“Should we go and buy bread for two hundred denarii,a” they asked Him, “and give it to them to eat?” 38“How many loaves do you have?” He asked them. “Go and see.” They found out and said, “Five, and two fish.” 39He ordered them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.41Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He blessed them. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to give to the people. He also gave pieces of the two fish to everyone. 42All of them ate and had enough.43They picked up pieces of bread and of the fish — twelve baskets full. 44There were 5,000 men who had eaten the bread.
Some people may get the idea Jesus was in the desert when this happened, but not quite. He was in a deserted place, the wilderness. It was uncultivated land used mostly for raising cattle and sheep. And I believe wilderness is exactly where Jesus wanted to be with these people. At least in this Gospel account, the disciples thought the towns were close enough for people to go to but Jesus had other plans.
The LORD had brought his people Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness. While wilderness most of the time is seen as a place of punishment, it isn’t supposed to be when you are with the LORD. The LORD provided his people with manna and quail there in the wilderness. There are a couple of places in Jeremiah where the LORD longed to be back with his people in the wilderness. It’s like a groom remembering a really good honeymoon:
Jer.2 2“Go and proclaim to Jerusalem:The LORD says this: ‘I remember how kind you were when you were young, how you loved when you were a bride and how you followed Me in the wilderness, in an uncultivated land. Israel was the LORD’s holy one, the first part of the harvest.’” and Jer. 31 2“The LORD says this: ‘The people who escaped the sword will find kindness in the wilderness. Israel will journey to find his rest.’ 3The LORD has come from far away to appear to me. He says: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; and so with kindness I will draw you to Me.’”
So Jesus who is the LORD who now has drawn people to himself and shown them love with an everlasting love and kindness. He has his disciples have the people sit down in hundreds and fifties. And being a God who often uses means, he takes the five loaves and two fish the disciples found and feed the 5000 men, not including women and children. Like the Israelites who each had their fill every day in the wilderness so too no one was lacking here.
We too are in the wilderness of this world. Our Father in heaven knows what we need. Jesus tells us to pray for daily bread knowing he will provide for us whatever is necessary to support our bodies and souls for the day. He may answer that prayer through work or through charity unless there is some greater purpose in giving glory to his gospel, but he will take care of us for it is written, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
Heavenly Father, grant us faith to believe you will always take care of us, providing us what we need for the day so we need not be anxious. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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