Don't Limit God's Power

Luke 9:12-13 “When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here."  (13)  But He said to them, "You give them something to eat." And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.”

We have seen thus far that we have all the faith that we need, and we have also seen that it is far easier for saints who have experienced God’s power to exercise their faith in His power. Nevertheless even saints that have experienced God’s power very often still display a tendency to limit their faith in His power. We see that point highlighted in the above quoted passage of scripture when Jesus instructed His disciples to feed the multitude. When Jesus made His comment, the disciples reacted completely in the natural by checking if they had enough money to feed the multitude, but they found that there was insufficient to buy even a little for each person there (John 6:7). And so they came back to the Lord to inform Him that they had insufficient funds and they only had enough food on hand to feed a handful of people and therefore couldn’t carry out His instruction to feed the multitude. And so the point is very clear that at no time did the thought enter their minds to consider using the power of God to feed the multitude. When we read this account, on the surface it seems as if Jesus must have been teasing the disciples when He instructed them to feed the multitude, because surely He knew that they would not be able to do that. Obviously Jesus knew that the disciples wouldn’t carry out His instruction on this occasion, but He also knew that the reason was not because of their inability to do so but rather their inability to grasp the fact that they were more than able to carry it out. When Jesus challenged His disciples on this occasion, they had already gone out on their own to preach the gospel, heal the sick and cast out demons. And so they were fully acquainted with God’s power by this time. The problem was that they had not yet realised that the same power that healed the sick could also feed the multitudes. They hadn’t yet made that connection, and so Jesus was trying to stretch them to exercise their faith in God’s power in areas other than just healing the sick and casting out demons. The disciples obviously failed the test on this occasion and Jesus fed the multitudes Himself, but the point remains clear that Jesus wanted the disciples to learn not to limit God’s power in any way.

Mark 8:16-21 “And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread."  (17)  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened?  (18)  Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?  (19) When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?" They said to Him, "Twelve."  (20)  "Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?" And they said, "Seven."  (21)  So He said to them, "How is it you do not understand?”

We saw in the previous passage of scripture how the Lord had tried to teach the disciples to use their faith in areas other than healing, when He challenged them to feed the multitudes. The above quoted passage of scripture reinforces this same truth, for in this passage we see Jesus expressing His frustration at the disciples’ hardness of heart in this area. The context of this passage is that the disciples were travelling by boat with the Lord Jesus, and they had forgotten to take enough bread with them for the journey. And so a dispute had broken out among them as to who should carry the blame for the fact that they only had one loaf of bread between them, which was obviously not enough. When Jesus heard about the dispute however, He rebuked them by reminding them about the fact that with very little resources He had fed thousands of people on two separate occasions. I have no doubt that on this occasion as well, Jesus multiplied their one loaf of bread so that everyone had enough to eat, but the point that I wanted to highlight from this passage is that in His rebuke, Jesus strongly implied that the disciples had the same access to God’s power that He did and they could therefore have just as easily resolved the problem themselves. Clearly our Lord was frustrated, not because of their lack of faith, but rather because of their lack of understanding through hardened hearts, which was preventing them from exercising their faith in God’s power. And so we see a truth revealed to us in this section, which is that the problem which many believers have is not their lack of faith but rather their lack of understanding because of hardened hearts.

Michael E.B. Maher

Faith Toward God

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