My Daily Pause

Jesus feeding a crowd with 5 loaves of bread and two fish – Early 1600’s – Bernardo Strozzi

Something awesome was happening!

The people were even willing to starve to see it!

The one thing that really helps me see the details and nuances in the Scriptures has to be the number of times I have read through it in recent years. I like how every time I pass through certain events, I see new details that I have never noticed.

The feeding of the four thousand (Mark 8:1-10) makes me slow down and study it more every time I get to it. On one hand, it seems like a repeat of the earlier feeding of the five thousand, but upon closer inspection, a number of differences in the situation pop out:

• The people had been following Jesus for three days
• The disciples never offered to feed the crowd, Jesus had to initiate it
• They started with more food, but had less left over

Those three days must have been something special to keep the crowd together that long! What would it take for you to drop what you are doing and follow someone you had only heard rumors about?

The word of God is like that. The more we are exposed to it, the more we can get from it. The more we get from it, the more we want. That’s pretty much what Paul meant in Romans 10:17

I would love to have witnessed the feeding of the four thousand. I’m not a fan of camping, but I would sure have spent the three days out there with Jesus.

But we are even more fortunate than they were…

…we have the Bible.

…we can set aside time for it in the comfort of our home

… in time we can become mature Christians by studying it

Find out what made those people want to stay out there with Jesus – Start a Bible reading plan today!