How soon we forget

¹⁴ And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them.  Mark 8.

It wasn’t really that they had forgotten to take bread that was the problem for these disciples.  It was the fact that they had forgotten who opened up the heavens and provided the bread for Thousands just they day before.  Let’s listen to Jesus tell the story:

¹⁶ They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. ¹⁷ And Jesus, aware of this, *said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand?

Do you have a hardened heart?

¹⁸ Having eyes, do you not see?

And having ears, do you not hear?

And do you not remember, ¹⁹ when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They *said to Him, “Twelve.” ²⁰ “When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they *said to Him, “Seven.” ²¹ And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

I am going to be really honest with you all here.  My first response to almost any situation is not a response of faith, it is usually a response of fear.  I am not proud of that, but it’s been a reality for me my whole life.  Now the span of time between that initial response of fear, and the ultimate choice of faith, has lessened more and more over the years.  But I gotta tell ya, I still tend to respond with fear first and then default to my faith mode.  So Jesus’s questions to the disciples above, are ones I need to answer often.  Here they are again:

Do you not see or understand?  Am I blinded by my own ways of thinking, by the traditions I have always followed?  Am I only thinking with my own thoughts about a matter, or am I seeking the Mind of God?  I often remember Jesus’s rebuke to Peter when I sense my “little faith mode” creeping up on me: