5 Radical Statements - 1 Chapter: #4

As I begin the freedom to write and express whatever I want again, I wanted to start with the most important thing - Jesus. As I was reading today there were 5 statements in one chapter that I think would drastically change the way we live if we really wrestled with them. Luke 9:

#4 "Give them something to eat" (verse 13)

The disciples have come back celebrating all that Jesus told them to do and amazed that it actually worked. He took them aside and withdrew (my guess is kind of to debrief them and get them some rest). People followed them and Jesus taught them. The disciples came to Him and said "it's getting late, shouldn't you send them on? They're going to be hungry." Jesus turns to them and drops this command on them. "You give them something to eat."

Pause. Don't you love that? Jesus drops it in their laps that He's about to do something and they are completely incapable of doing it, but He lets them squirm a little first just to prove it. Most of us know the story how they brought a happy meal (5 loaves of bread and 2 fish) fed 15,000ish (5,000 men) then collected 12 basketfuls. But I want to look at this set up.

Jesus intentionally puts them in a place where they cannot do things without Him. Jesus will set you up to not be able to do things without Him. Let’s talk some practicals - I ended up in China and when I was there it hit me. I'm in China. What the crap just happened? As I began to write my lesson plans my brain just locked up. It had never been here before and I thought, What the crap just happened? What did I say I'd do?! I found myself in front of 500 students all saying "Sing a Song!" and I think, How in the world did I get here? I'm sitting across the table from my assistant dean and other teachers and they say "How do you know God is real?" What proof do you have? I uh... um... well... In the summer I find out I have to raise $17,000 in less than a month and I'm sitting at home by myself. What the crap? What am I doing here? I found myself in India sitting beside a man who was supposed to die in the next hour and all of my graphic designing training wasn't paying off to help him. What in the world do I do? How did I get here? My teammate/team leader is lying on the floor because he's been sick for 4 weeks and we keep praying for him but he only seems to get worse and we're in a country not known for its best medical coverage. What am I doing here? Wha... Another friend just found out her ex-boyfriend of 7-years is now engaged 3 months after she left for China. I uh... what? I'm sitting in my church where well versed "wise" people are discussing how God made us out of boredom and we're his little experiment. They're throwing around verses and I'm trying to keep up and Wait, no! This is... uh. Can we ... what? No! It's July 12 and I feel like God's plan is for me to go to school in the fall but I still don’t know where yet and I haven't applied, found an apartment, or even know what city. What happened? What am I doing here? Seriously? Can I get out?

In each scenario and we all could go on, we have this What in the world happened? How did I get here? Can I please get out? Can we start over? Can I not live this life? Can you just remove me from here and put me somewhere else? You have to come fix this. I have no idea what's about to happen and I can't even prepare for it. But this is when He has to come through. The same thing happened when Jesus says "alright, go feed ‘em." They had to have that overwhelming, Say what? You want me to do ... what? How... I can't even... Do you know where... What?

This is how I understand these circumstances. We ask for God to move in ways that its unmistakable it's Him, then we freak out when He lets the odds stack up so it's obvious it's Him that overcomes. Suddenly, someone gets cancer, a car wreck, a house leak, a sudden speech, guns pointed at you, etc. It’s these incredible events that no one wants to be in, but everyone loves the stories of other people afterwards. It's these things that freak us out because we still expect us to do it. He never expects you to do it without Him. When we say "I don’t know what you want me to do! I've done everything I can do! What do you expect out of me?" He gentle responds, "I don't expect you to do it. I expect you to be faithful. I expect to do it." Sometimes I feel like He adds on a little lighthearted reminder "When have I ever expected or depended on you to do something? Hasn't it always been you waiting on me to do it? ... Did you expect me to change in the last 2 days/2 weeks/2 years?"

Are we ready to see ourselves struggle a little so that God can come through? Are we focused on being comfortable - or being in a position to see God do incredible things?