Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” (Mark 8:17-19, NIV)
I played golf the other day with my good friend and COO of Links Players, Jeff “Grass” Hopper.
We had played the same course together two days earlier. Now we came to the sixth hole and I drove it in the bunker. I said, “I was there the other day,” but he reminded me that had been another player in our group, not me!
Two holes later, this time I hit it in the middle of the fairway. Jeff laughed and asked me, “Do you remember where you hit it the last time we played this hole?”
I said, “No.”
Again he reminded me, saying, “You hit the tree and it flew across the creek and into the fairway.”
The problem was not bread; it was their forgetful lack of faith.This was true and probably I should have recalled such a lucky break, but I responded, “I don’t like to remember my bad shots!” I do this on purpose. If you’re like most golfers, it’s hard to want to forget the bad shots. When you come up to that same hole, a bad memory can haunt you. You make the same mistake over again. So I choose to forget, which sometimes means throwing out the good with the bad, I guess.
Today’s passage of Scripture actually encourages us to remember. God wants us to recall the past, especially those times when he has stepped in to save us.
The disciples, however, lost track of this in the midst of a discussion about the yeast (bad teaching) of the Pharisees. They were out on a boat with only one load of bread among them, and they thought Jesus was chastising them for being forgetful. He was. But not about forgetting the bread. He scolded them for so quickly forgetting that he had fed five thousand with five loaves and four thousand with seven loaves. The problem was not bread; it was their forgetful lack of faith.
It’s a good thing God loves us unconditionally and rescues us even from our lack of memory. As our Father, he is so full of mercy and grace that he reminds us of his love for us and does not give us what we deserve. You see, we do forget his great love for us, and when we panic we think he doesn’t care or understand what we are going through. But it’s when we remember—and sooner is always better than later—what he did for us, we lift our hands up to him and say, “Lord, forgive me and let your will be done, not mine.” He does not want us to make the same mistake over and over again. He wants us to remember to trust him at all times.
—
Dereck Wong
September 12, 2017
Copyright 2017 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.