why we miss the message

Jesus teaches us an important lesson today in our reading from Mark 8:11-38 in the One Year Bible.

He is telling His disciples something very spiritually profound about not seeking a sign but trusting God instead. And when He tells them this, they start arguing about not bringing enough food. Jesus mentioned "yeast" in His comment, so they assumed He meant they should have brought bread. So He reminds them of all of the times that God has provided for their needs in the past, feeding the 5,000 and the 4,000 with plenty left over.

That happens in our lives, too. God intends to teach us a powerful truth. But our guilt over things that we think we've messed up get in the way. We get caught up in thinking, "Oh, He must be mad because I did that thing again." And we worry that we're going to mess up our lives through our bad decisions. But then God reminds us. "Remember all of those OTHER times that I took care of you? Do you think I'm going to stop now?"

And of course, He won't. Because He's not just the God who took care of us once. He's not just the God who will take care of us in the future. He is the God who, every moment of every day, takes care of us. He TAKES care of us... present tense. Always here, in the present, taking care of us.

Don't worry about the bread. He's got you covered.

God, thank You for always taking care of us.