MATTHEW 14 MEETING NEEDS As the Lord Jesus moved among the people, He met the wide variety of their needs is such a way that there was no question He was the answer to John the Baptist's prophecy. "He must increase, but I must decrease." The death of John the Baptist at the hands of the immoral king Herod, and because of a vengeful woman, moved the Lord Jesus to seek some privacy in a desert place. The faithful witness's voice was now silent and perhaps the Lord wanted to go to a place to remember His faithful servant. When one dies who has been faithful to his calling, there is a void left among the servants of God that is hard to fill. Others may take that one's place in the work of the Lord, but there will not be another just like that person. God calls His servants home when their work is done, but God's work continues on. We miss the ones we labored with and the loss is great, but God's kingdom work still goes on with others taking up the challenge. We may need to take some time to mourn their passing, and then we get up and go on about the work we have been called to.
The people who followed the Lord into the desert were just as needy as ever. There was no one else able to meet this need. How gracious and kind was the Lord Jesus as he was moved with compassion to meet their urgent needs. His own need to grieve the passing of His forerunner was overshadowed by the need of the multitudes who sought Him. Sincere compassion is a result of making the needs of others ourselves, and meeting them as best we can rather than expecting someone else to do that. There will always be those around us who need us and who we can truly help. Compassion is a sense of loving and caring for others without an obligation of some sort that makes us act on behalf of others. We need to be aware of the hurts and real needs of those around us and comfort and care for them. The actual needs are so many that in ourselves we would not even try to respond to them. But God implants compassion in His own children of the kingdom so we can rise to the challenge of reaching out to the men, women and children of our day and place, and carry the bread of life the Lord gives to distribute to them.
There is a personal need each person in the kingdom has that no one else can actually help us with. That is the need of personal communion with God as our Gracious Heavenly Father. We must always make time for this. The Lord Jesus Christ and the Father are One, and yet the Lord made it a point of maintaining that relationship as a man with His God through prayer. The acknowledgement of the presence of God in every aspect of our lives is maintained through consistent prayer and communion. The point of praying is that we are found in fellowship with God and are allowed to participate with Him in His work. Through prayer we know what we are to do in the daily events of our lives.
The crossing of the Sea of Galilee would not have been an unusual event in the lives of some of those disciples. Going against the wind would have made the crossing slow and tedious because of the need of tacking to make any headway. The night was almost past when they saw the Lord coming to them walking on the water. This was not just a figure of speech as it is used today. This was an actual fact that He who is the God-Man used the power and authority He has over His own creation, to teach the disciples some important lessons. They would have learned visibly, and in the case of Peter, experimentally, that what is impossible with men is possible with God. They had already experienced the taste of the best wine being created instantly at the marriage in Cana. They had witnessed healing miracles performed by the Lord. They knew the Lord had power over death for He had raised the daughter of Jarius, back to life. They had experienced the miracles of five loaves and two fish being multiplied to feed from ten to fifteen thousand people.
Now they saw the Lord of the wind and the sea in control of the elements that are uncontrollable by man. The power of the Lord Jesus Christ is far greater than that of gravity, wind and sea all together. His authority over gravity was even extended beyond Himself when He told Peter, "Come." No power in earth or heaven can ever supersede His power. In the same way Peter sank under the control of the elements and gravity, so when we turn the eyes of our faith away from the Lord, we lose the effect of the power of God in our lives. There may be times in our lives when we have been given the privilege of God using us in unusual and even miraculous ways that will never come again. In these times, and hopefully at all times we are caused to confess in awe, "Truly Thou art the Son of God."
What constitutes a real need? When does there come a time to heed The needs of our own soul? When one well loved whose life we shared, one who for us really cared When they are taken, we feel less than whole. But our Father God who has compassion, in time like that can teach a lesson That I need to learn. He is father-like to me, and tends my hurts so carefully It is natural to Him to turn. Through events that happen which I can't control, He uses them to cultivate in my soul A spirit of trust and faith. And when the grief and sadness pass, and we are given a peace that lasts We experience God's daily grace. Often following those times when one's spirit is tender; God uses us personally that we might render Assistance to others in need. He may not use some miraculous event, for it is for times like this we are sent To bring blessing in Jesus' name. God's grace to us we can pass along, to those who wonder why life seems wrong And couldn't rise above it until we came. Then we understand that it was for this hour, the Holy Spirit uses us and does empower Us to act on God's behalf. The compassion of Christ He gives us is sufficient, to fill gaps in another's life that is deficient And we can help them to grasp That God is there in the bad times and good, and their hurt and sorrows are understood By those who have been there too. So, we trust the Lord to lead and guide, that others may find one in whom they can confide Who will help bear the burdens, till this is through.
We won't feed five thousand men and walk on water, but by the power and grace of our heavenly Father We can fulfill His will for us. I know Him and trust Him - He is the Son of God, and by His grace I know Him as Lord For everything in life - in God I trust.
"Father God, the needs of this day are different from yesterday. This morning I am rejoicing over a young woman who has professed to be saved. Others too have been attending these meetings and there is evident interest in salvation on the part of others. Would it not bring much glory to Thee Father, and to the Lord Jesus, if others were saved. We are not worthy of this but the Lord Jesus is, and I pray that others may confess Him as Savior and Lord. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen."