A daily devotion for January 13th

Do You Not Yet Understand?

Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember?

Mark 8:17b-18

In this series of questions, our Lord is suggesting for them, and for us, what to do when we get the spiritual blahs. One young man came to me and said, I'm a graduate of a Bible college. I've been a Christian for a number of years. But I must tell you that I feel so blah, so empty. I've lost all interest in what God is doing, and I just don't have any desire even to get involved in a Bible study anymore. What should I do? I had just been studying this passage, so I did what our Lord suggests in this passage without telling this young man what I was doing.

The first thing the Lord suggests is to use your mind. Do you not see or understand? Stop and think about where you are, about what is happening to you, and why it happened.

Analyze it. Read what the Bible has to say about it. That is what the mind is for. Study the revelations of God to you. Use your mind.

Second, He asks, Are your hearts hardened? That is, analyze the state of your heart. Are you dull, or do you respond? Have you forgotten truth? Because if the heart does not respond to what the mind has understood, then it is because you have not really believed it. You may have recognized mentally that it is true, but you have not acted upon it. You do not really believe God is going to do what He has said He will do. This is always revealed by a dull, unresponsive heart. Truth always moves us—when we believe it. It always grips us and excites us. And if we are not excited, it is because the mind has grasped it but the heart has not.

Jesus moves on: Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? Jesus said these words again and again to the people He taught, and each time He means the same thing. Do not just look at the events you are seeing and think that is all there is to it. It is a parallel to something deeper and more important concerning your spirit. As these men were being fed by the loaves and the fishes, He was saying to them, Don't think of this merely as a way of getting a good, quick, free meal. Remember that I am telling you that you have a deeper need, a far more demanding need, which needs daily replenishment as well.

And finally, Don't you remember? Hasn't God taught you things in the past through your circumstances? Hasn't He led you through events that have made you understand something about your life? Do you not remember the times He said things like that in the past? Remember them now, and recognize that you are in the hands of a loving Father who has put you right where you are to teach you a very needed truth.

Forgive me, Father, for the dullness of my heart. Help me to give myself every day to this One who is the bread sent down from heaven.

Life Application

We may experience times of spiritual lethargy, but we do not need to settle for that state of mind & heart. There are 4 helpful ways to combat it & be spiritually restored.