Words of Encouragement

Mt 16:5 "the disciples ... had forgotten to take bread" Mk 8:15 "... and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them."

Jesus said to them "having eyes do you not see, and ears do you not hear, and do you not remember ... do you not yet understand?" So - Jesus makes 2 points here: one about the religious and political leaven. One about His ability to provide. Not only to provide, but to provide above & beyond.

How does He make His point? By starting the discussion with what they forgot. Does God even control what we forget and what we remember? Did He intentionally cause them to forget the bread so He could make a point? Had they already been discussing the bread issue and saying "It wasn't my responsibility, you were supposed to get the food ..."

So the next time I forget something important, like the bread, I want to remember this much: to ask Jesus what it is He wants to teach or to do differently because I forgot. I think I may learn something. He said "do you not yet understand?" Obviously they didn't or He wouldn't have said that. The next time I forget something important I want to see if there's a lesson God wants me to learn.

Then after that I want to learn what is the political leaven in Mk 8.