Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way." (Matthew 15:30-32 NIV)
Last night I enjoyed some time with a "small group" (or whatever we're supposed to call them these days) that met up at the church building. It used to meet at my house, but when we started topping 20 people in attendance regularly...the church building became the logical alternative.
It was a "normal" night last night. Over 20 of us were there. We ate dinner together (so people could come straight from work). The adults moved to another room to study Scripture together, while the children hung out together. People worked together at their tables, presented their findings to the rest of the group, prayed for one another, then packed up to leave.
But...we didn't really want to leave.
We found ourselves doing things like cleaning dishes, packing up things while continuing our conversations about what God was doing in our lives and the lives of those around us. We finished cleaning and packing, but we didn't finish talking. Five of us stayed around for quite awhile, not sensing that we should really go home yet. God was still at work. Bloodshot eyes and tired yawns didn't seem to stop everyone from wanting to stay...so we stayed.
Finally, over an hour later, I started to shepherd us toward the door. It was time to leave. We picked up our stuff, still talking, and headed for the parking lot. The conversations, however, didn't stop. We hugged, said goodbye, and headed for our cars. Two of our cars were parked next to one another, so three of us continued our conversations for a while longer. Finally, we succumbed to the cool night air and moved to our warm vehicles. God was still at work.
All too often, especially in "civilized" society, we allow our lives to be driven by the schedules and demands of the almighty clock. When do we allow our schedules to be driven by our Almighty God. God is at work. How much more would he be at work if we simply allowed Him to lead?
People stayed with Jesus for three days in a row to the point that they had no food to eat. They didn't leave. God was at work. And because they stuck around...they would see God at work again. Four thousand men, plus women and children were fed through another amazing miracle. Had they left, they would have missed it.
No comments:
Post a Comment