February 28:  Trusting His Provision.

HIS RESOLUTION.
The word of Gods kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem.--Acts 6:7

I am keenly aware of the need to understand the cultural anthropology and sociology reflected in the Bible. Background commentaries help us understand the customs and social history at play, and how various social groups interacted in the ancient Mediterranean world.  For example, in the New Testament we see that during the infancy of the Christian church there were relational problems among groups, and how God provided timely resolutions.

Paul clearly points out that we are all equal at the foot of the cross: "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:27, 28).  It seems so clear, yet Luke, who was Paul's traveling companion, reports in the book of Acts that the apostles had to deal with claims of discrimination at the very start of the believing fellowship.  The Christian community was growing, and a complaint arose on the side of the believing Greeks that the widows from their group were being overlooked in the daily serving (Greek diakonia) of food (Acts 6:1).  The apostles did not dismiss their claim, but instead sought a resolution.  God provided wisdom to His disciples, who selected deacons to minister in this task.  The first deacons were filled with the Spirit, and they were of Hellenistic (Greek) background (verse 5), which meant that God provided leaders with whom the complaining group could identify.  Right after their selection, we find today's devotional text, one of six such progress reports about how the word of God kept spreading and the numbers of believers increased.  Conflicts often threatened the growth of the first century church (as in Acts 15), yet God provided wise leaders who prayed for heavenly guidance and whose priorities were the spreading of the good news, and the salvation of the people.  Let's pray for our leaders and communities, that no conflict may have the power to hinder the proclamation of the gospel.

My Response:________________________________________________________

February 27:  Trusting His Provision.

HIS COURAGE.
"And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bondservants may speak Your word with all confidence."--Acts 4:29


Martin Luther had arrived at Worms.  The Reformer had expected a scholarly debate about the content of his books, but instead Eck, an official of the Archbishop of Trier, opened the proceedings by asking Luther to acknowledge the authorship of his books and to recant his position.  Luther was taken by surprise, and even though he corroborated his authorship, he asked for time to consider the recantation request.  A delay of one day was granted.  Did he lose his confidence for a few hours?  Was it a debate technique?  Whatever the reason for his request, Luther surrendered to God, and the next day he asserted in front of the council that he could not retract in light of the Scriptural evidence, come what may.

After their arrest for speaking about salvation through Jesus Christ, Peter and John were commanded by the council "not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus" (Acts 4:18).  The two disciples responded: "we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard" (verse 20).  Then they were threatened and released (verse 21).  And they went to their own people and prayed an amazing prayer.  When we pray for God to provide what we need while we're going through dire circumstances, we usually think of asking God to remove the trial, to provide for our physical needs, or to send people who will comfort us. But they prayed for God to provide...confidence; they prayed for courage to continue proclaiming the Word of God!  "And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence" (verse 29).  We can request the same, especially when we are under oppression or going through difficulties due to our belief in Jesus.  God responded with a miraculous manifestation of His Spirit: "the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness" (verse 31).  God will give us courage when we meet opposition to the gospel.  This is a divine provision that we are sure to receive!

My Response:___________________________________________________

February 26:  Trusting His Provision.

HIS ENDOWMENT.
With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.--Acts 3:8

Have you ever received more than you could have imagined?  We were celebrating my birthday with my family.  After a nice dinner, I opened the gifts.  One of the gifts was a little yellow toy car, which I really liked because I had wanted to buy a similar real car.  There were envelopes attached to the bumper of the car.  When I opened them, I found checks inside, amounting to a large sum that was enough to trade my used car and buy the new car I needed.  I was speechless!

In Acts 3, there was a man who received much more than he could have imagined.  He was handicapped since birth and had been begging for a living: "A man who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple" (verse 2).  Peter and John were going to the temple at the hour of prayer, and the man was asking for alms.  Peter looked at him and said, "Look at us!" (verse 4).  Surely, the beggar looked at them immediately, probably expecting a sizable gift, only to have his hopes shattered by Peter's opening words: "I do not possess silver and gold" (verse 6) Oh, really?  "But what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene--walk!" (verse 6).  Wait, what?  This was much more than he imagined!  He could walk!  And that was the first time in his life, he entered the temple, experiencing God like never before!  There were nine gates that led into the inner courts, and a lame person wouldn't have gone further than the court of the Gentiles.  The name of Jesus became his passport to enter the temple, "walking and leaping and praising God" (verse 8).  I am amazed at how God is able to provide more than what we ask or expect.  And His greatest endowment is our immediate access to the presence of God through the name of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19-22), no matter how emotionally and spiritually handicapped we have been all our lives.

My Response:_________________________________________________________

February 25:  Trusting His Provision.

HIS BESTOWAL.
They were amazed and astonished, saying"...how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?"--Acts 2:7, 8

I wanted to make sure my message would be properly understood even though the audience in the convention center had come from many different countries.  The night before the event, I met with the coordinator of the translators in order to go over some of my key points.  The translation in different languages, transmitted via headset radio system, was of utmost importance as many in the audience were not fluent in English.  I believe that the Holy Spirit anointed their words; otherwise I would not have been able to communicate the Word.

At the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus promised His disciples that they would receive "power from on high," in order to proclaim the good news of Jesus to the world (Luke 24:46-49).  And the followers of Jesus waited for the promise to be fulfilled.  They were all together on the day of Pentecost "and suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind....And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.  And They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance" (Acts 2:2-4).  Jews and proselytes, pilgrims from other nations, each heard the disciples speak in their own language!  Can you imagine the amazed audience, each hearing the gospel in their own dialect?  Many scholars interpret this event  as the reversal of the curse of Babel, when humans mistrusted God and thought to outsmart Him by building a tower to reach the heavens.  God confused their language, and they could no longer understand each other (Genesis 11:1-9).  Now in Acts, the opposite happened.  The Spirit was bestowed on the Christian community, and everyone understood their message!  God equipped His followers, providing everything they needed in order to share Jesus with others.  And the Holy Spirit is bestowed upon us, equipping us for service and providing what is needed.  The Spirit will enable you to share Jesus with others!  Trust His power and don't be afraid to be used by God!

My Response:________________________________________________________

February 24:  Trusting His Provision.

HIS UNVEILING.
And He was saying to them, "Do you not yet understand?"--Mark 8:21

The 2012 tornado season in the United State4s turned deadly.  Stephanie Decker was at home with her two children when the first tornado hit Henryville, Indiana.  With no time to take them to the shelter, she covered them with her own body.  The flying debris broke seven of her ribs, and her legs became casualties of the second tornado that hit a few minutes later, but her children didn't suffer as much as a scratch.  In the interviews, she was smiling because it was all worth it!

After the feeding of the five thousands, the breakthrough with the Syrophoenician woman, and the feeding of the four thousand (events that we have reviewed for the last three days), it was now time for the unveiling of the bread riddle.  To make sure the hearers and readers do not miss the connection between the two feedings, Mark adds a summary of Jesus: " 'Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many large baskets [kophinos] full of broken pieces you picked up?'  And they said to Him, 'Twelve.'  'When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets [spuris] full of broken pieces did you pick up?' And they said to Him, 'Seven.'  And He was saying to them, 'Do you not yet understand?' " (Mark 8:18-21). Obviously, there was enough bread for Jews and for non-Jews, for the insiders and the outsiders.  And there were leftovers for each group, emphasized by the numbers and words befitting the respective cultural settings.  But what, exactly, did the bread symbolize?  Towards the end of this Gospel, the full mystery of the ongoing bread riddle is unveiled, using the verbs that had been present in the narrative of both feedings: "While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke is and gave it to His disciples, saying, 'Take it; this is my body' " (Mark 14:22, NIV).  Jesus here revealed the fact that He would die for all; He gave up His life so that we could be assured of life eternal.  And both feedings confirmed that His sacrificial victory was for all who believe in Him.  And who, exactly, are all?  Oh, yes!  All!

My Response:______________________________________________________

February 23:  Trusting His Provision.

HIS SATISFYING.
And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces.--Mark 8:8


As humans, we seem to be prone to exclusivity, whether on the basis of color, gender, race, religion, or any number of other categories.  I have recently learned about the life of the extraordinary mathematician Ramanujan.  He went through hard times, due to his race, until he was recognized for his educational endeavors in England.  In 1918, he became the first person from India to be elected as Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.  He died at the age of thirty-two.

It is hard to be accepted into a group when you are considered an outsider.  The disciples had difficulty understanding that Gentiles were invited to God's kingdom.  After the feeding of the five thousand, where the insiders were fed bread and were satisfied (Mark 6:34-44), and after the breakthrough riddle with the Syrophoenician woman, where Jesus talked about being satisfied with bread (Mark 7:24-30), Jesus feeds the four thousand.  This is the feeding of the others (Mark 8:1-10); the numbers and the word used for "basket" have changed.  This time Jesus starts with seven loaves (verse 5).  Once again, we encounter four verbs: Jesus takes the bread, gives thanks, breaks the loaves, and gives them to the disciples to give to the people (verse 6).  "And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces.  About four thousand were there" (verse 8, 9).  The numbers have changed from five and twelve in the feeding of the Jews, to seven and four, for the outsiders.  The number four is used for the whole earth (four corners); and in the non-Jewish/Gentile geographical setting, seven symbolizes the seven pagan nations displaced by the Israelites in the land of Canaan (see Acts 13:19; Deuteronomy 7:1).  The word for baskets is different (spuris), befitting of a Gentile audience.  They were also satisfied and there were seven baskets left.  If you have felt the pain of being labeled as an outsider, may you know that Jesus wants you to be fed and be satisfied as well.  Tomorrow we will discover what the bread was pointing to! *

My Response:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* See tomorrow's devotional for the conclusion of the bread plot in Mark.

February 22:  Trusting His Provision.

HIS BREAKTHROUGH.
"Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs."--Mark 7:28

When I was a little girl, I was saving for a bicycle.  My dad, who was a church administrator, my mom, and I went to the mountains, where a woman, who owned a hotel far away from any local church, was waiting to give her tithes and offerings.  We arrived and sat at the table.  She started to divide money into little designated piles: evangelism, tithes, church budget, et cetera.  I was sure there would be a pile for me too!  When the money ran out, I yelled in utter desperation: "And for my bicycle?!"  How could there be so much for the church and nothing for me?


Have you ever wondered if there is enough for you?  I have.  In the time of Jesus, some wondered whether there was enough for them, because they were labeled as outsiders.  The feeding of the five thousand (in Mark's narrative clearly pointing to the Jewish culture) had left the crowd satisfied through the multiplication of the bread (Mark 6:34-44).  Mark 7:24 finds Jesus in Tyre and Sidon, which was a pagan territory that carried a long history of antagonism toward the people of Israel (see 1 Kings 16:31, 33).  A Gentile woman, of the Syrophoenician race, asks Jesus for mercy for her daughter.  Jesus tells her a riddle, about being satisfied with bread, the two pivotal words in the preceding feeding of the five thousand.  "And He was saying to her, 'Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs' " (Mark 7:27).  The woman responds to the riddle and does not ask for the children's bread, nor for the first place.  She asks for the humble place of a little dog that feeds from the children's crumbs (verse 28).  Jesus commends her for her answer and grants her request.  She was more insightful than the disciples, who had not yet grasped the inclusivity of Jesus' mission.  Many scholars consider this story the breakthrough event in this Gospel, followed by the next miraculous feeding that will occur in a Gentile context (Mark 8:1-9).  There was enough bread for her, for them, and for us to be satisfied, no matter where we come from, or where we have been.

My Response:_________________________________________________________

February 21:  Trusting His provision.

HIS PLENTY.
They all ate and were satisfied.--Mark 6:42

I was a church youth leader when our group decided to participate in a large community event of serving a holiday meal for homeless people in downtown Los Angeles.  Thousands of people ate until they were completely full, and still there were plenty of leftovers, which is very unusual for there are more than forty thousand unsheltered homeless individuals in this city.  Oh, that this abundance could be theirs every day!

There is a fascinating section found in Mark 6-8, and we will spend a few days in it.  It relates to the feeding of the five thousand and the feeding of the four thousand.  The narrative starts with Jesus teaching a large crowd in a desolate place, and it gets quite late; it is time to eat (Mark 6:34, 35).  The disciples could only find five loaves of bread and two fish (verse 38), and they brought these to Jesus.  The crowd sat down in groups of fifties and hundreds, as the people had in the wilderness with Moses (Exodus 18:21).  Jesus then multiplied the bread.  There are four verbs that the reader will re-encounter later in the bread plot: Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks the loaves, and gives them to the disciples, who gave the bread to the crowd.  "They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces....There were five thousand men who ate the loaves" (verses 42-44).  The cultural setting of this event is found in the words and numbers used.  The numbers five and twelve were representative of the Jewish culture: five was the number of the books in the Law (Torah), and there were twelve tribes in Israel.  In this story, there are five loaves of bread, five thousand men fed, and twelve full baskets left, one per tribe.  Even the Greek word used for baskets is kophinos, associated with the Jews.  God's people were fed, satisfied, and had leftovers.  But there was more to this enacted teaching, which we will study in the next few days.  For now, let's notice that God has no lack of resources, whether for our daily needs or for our eternal salvation.  He has no limitations, and His grace is plentiful!  He can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20)!

My Response:______________________________________________________

February 20:  Trusting His Provision.

HIS ENDURANCE.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.--Acts 16:25

During particularly hard times in my life, God often blesses me with a song that becomes my companion through that specific trial.  When my father was diagnosed with cancer for the last time, I was blessed with the song "God Wants to Hear You Sing," * which I listened to over and over.  It highlights that God loves to hear our songs when everything is fine, but that we truly bless God's heart when He hears us sing His praises in the midst of sufferings, just as Paul and Silas did.

It is fascinating to understand the circumstances that Jesus went through in the Gospel of Luke, and the parallel experiences of His followers in the book of Acts.  Both Jesus and His followers were baptized by the Spirit for public ministry, performed many miracles, endured all kinds of trials and tribulations, and were persecuted and killed.  Jesus endured the kind of sufferings and death that none of His followers would ever taste, because He carried the penalty of our sins and transgressions.  Yet His disciples were given strength and patience from above to endure many trials.  Sometimes God removes the trial, other times He gives us perseverance and a song of praise in the midst of tribulation.  This was the case with Paul and Silas in Philippi.  The first convert in Europe, named Lydia, was baptized in this city.  When Paul exorcised a fortune-telling spirit from a slave girl, he and Sials were put in jail after being struck with many blows (Acts 16:23). For security and punishment purposes, they were placed in the inner prison and their feet were fastened in stocks (verse 24).  Yet God provided a way for them to witness about Jesus: they were singing and praising God in the middle of the night (verse 25).  Other prisoners were listening, as was probably the jailer himself.  When a great earthquake occurred, they had the opportunity to tell the jailer about salvation through Jesus, and he and his family were baptized.  If you are suffering today, ask God to give you a song of praise in the night.  Your test will become your testimony!  And God will use it for His salvific purposes!

My Response:_________________________________________________________
* "God Wants to Hear You Sing" by Greater Vision.

February 19:  Trusting His Provision.

HIS BLOOD.
"Say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher says, "Where is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?" ' "--Mark 14:14

During a difficult season, I visited my valued mentor.  He took me back to Israel's history; and we read Exodus 14:13, 14: "But Moses said to the people, 'Do not fear!  Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today....The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent."  God's power to deliver His people was revealed through the Passover Lamb and the dividing of the sea.  My mentor reminded me to trust that the battle is the Lord's!

When Jesus was about to surrender His life to redeem the world, He planned to eat the last Passover meal with His disciples (Mark 14:12-16).  In a combination of practical arrangements and divine prescience, Jesus gave His disciples explicit instructions to find a guest room to eat the Passover together.  They were to follow a man with a pitcher of water (verse 13); an unusual sight, given that mostly women carried jars of water.  The owner of the house was simply to be told, "The Teacher says, 'Where is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?' " (verse 14).  The word "Passover" is mentioned four times in this short narrative.  Can you imagine Jesus' thoughts as they prepared for the meal that was a memorial of deliverance and redemption, instituted back in Exodus 12:21-27, which symbolized His own death?  The Israelites slayed the Passover lamb and applied the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts of the house, and the angel of destruction did not smite them, as they were thus covered.  They were delivered by the blood of the Lamb.  Later they encountered the Egyptians, while trapped by the sea, and once again they were reminded that the battle was the Lord's.  On their way to the Promised Land, they were reminded that God was the Provider of water and bread.  The battle was the Lord's!  Back in Jerusalem, as Jesus was eating the meal, He explained to His disciples that it represented His body and His blood.  Our Passover Lamb, Jesus, has been sacrificed! (1 Corinthians 5:7).  He has delivered us!  Now, will we trust Him to provide what we need as we journey to the Promised Land?

My Response:____________________________________________________________