Missing Small Details...

When you read about Jesus in the Bible it’s so easy to miss small details that reveal huge aspects of His character. Here in Mark chapter 6 we read of “the feeding of the 5000”. It’s so easy to miss the fact that the reason Jesus and the disciples were in a remote place was to get away from the crowds and eat (for they hadn’t eaten in a while). As they pulled up to shore they saw the huge crowd that was waiting there for them. I’m sure Jesus was starving and overwhelmed with frustration, but He had compassion on them. Why? Because they were lost. His desire for them to believe and follow Him overrode His physical hunger, his physical and mental exhaustion, and inability to deal with popularity. To me the ability to handle popularity is huge. He’s the only One I’ve ever witnessed with the ability to not let it go to His head and allow it to corrupt His thinking. These are the little things that if we hurry through the scriptures to check off our “to-do” list for the day, we might miss. Knowing God is sometimes in the small details of a story. Don’t miss them due to lack of focus. As it says of His Word, “it’s alive and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword”. Ask God to reveal Himself to you. It may just be in the details.

30 The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told Him all they had done and taught. 31 Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and His apostles didn’t even have time to eat.32 So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone. 33 But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them. 34 Jesus saw the huge crowd as He stepped from the boat, and He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He began teaching them many things.35 Late in the afternoon His disciples came to Him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. 36 Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.”37 But Jesus said, “You feed them.”“With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”38 “How much bread do you have?” He asked. “Go and find out.”They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”39 Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.41 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, He kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. 42 They all ate as much as they wanted, 43 and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. 44 A total of 5 ,000 men and their families were fed from those loaves! Mark 6:30-44