Our Personal God
Today’s reading tells us more than the ability of our God to provide. It is more than simply a retelling of the miracles of our Savior. Our relationship with God is perfectly pictured in Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand.
1) “When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them…”
God never turns us away. He will never send us from His presence when we seek Him. Matthew 7:7-8 says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” I often am overwhelmed by the fact that my God listens to me. He comforts me. He notices me. Of all the billions of souls on this planet, He knows my name, my fears, my dreams, and He invites me in. God’s invitation is not simply for those who have it all figured out. He doesn’t pick and choose whom He allows to come to Him. Are you broken? He’ll hold your pieces. Are you defiant? He will comfort those fears. Have you failed? Sinned? Believed too much or too little in yourself? None of it matters. He wants you. He welcomes you to come… just as you are. You won’t stay the say, but you don’t have to change first.
2) “… and spoke to them of the kingdom of God…”
God does not leave us in the state He finds us. We are ignorant of the truth without Jesus, but ignorant is not how He desires us to remain. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:13) What an amazing thought that God would disclose to us all truth. He holds nothing back from us. In this verse, Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will even tell us of things that are to come. Our relationship with the Lord is not one-sided. Jesus also said, “All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he (the Holy Spirit) will take what is mine and declare it to you.” Jesus still speaks to his people of the kingdom of God. Are we listening?
3) “… and cured those who had need of healing… And they all ate and were satisfied.”
It isn’t enough that God sees us and calls us to Him. Nor is it enough that He reveals all the mysteries of the universe to us. His love is personal. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)
Our God is a personal God. He welcomes all who seek Him. He will not turn you away because you are not clean or perfected. He calls us as we are… broken and used. We don’t have to have it all figured out. He will teach us. And when he has taught our soul and saved it from the fires of hell, he will heal us and make us whole.
(Written by Keegan Harkins.)
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