Matthew 15:33 And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?
Pay Attention!
Do you find it hard to pay attention? You probably do. If you’re like most modern people, it is harder for you to pay attention now than it was 20 years ago! In fact, it may be harder to pay attention now than it was 20 minutes ago. There are a variety of reasons for this, but I will tell you that a lot of people we consider brilliant probably are not any smarter than you or me, it’s just that they pay attention. They learn from life and from God, and they put these lessons into practice in ways that we don’t because we are too oblivious to what’s happening around us.
Now if you have a hard time paying attention, you will probably sympathize with the frail memory of Jesus’ disciples in the story of Matthew 15. Jesus had just recently fed a hungry multitude, and He and His disciples were again confronted with the same situation. When, for the second time, the disciples realize that there was a huge crowd with very little food, they said unto Him, “Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?” (Matthew 15:33) Now it’s worse than that because right after this second feeding of the multitude, the disciples were in a boat with Jesus, and were concerned that there was not enough food for the 13 of them. The disciples were worried about having enough food right after He’d fed thousands of people right before their very eyes!
It’s pretty clear that the disciples were not paying attention. The disciples failed to learn from the Lord and from life. Because they had not been paying attention the first time the Lord fed a multitude, they doubted that He could the second time that they were face with the same situation. That’s a mistake we can learn from. Now the lessons that you learn need to be measured by what God has said, so that they are accurate. If you make a mistake once, that’s common; but if you make the same mistake over and again, that is needless pain and trouble. Pay attention. Learn from the Lord. Learn from life, and be a blessing because you do.