Verse: Ephesians 1:22-23
22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Devotion
No problem is too big for Jesus.
In Mark 8, Jesus is having a conversation with his disciples on a boat, and they realize they forgot the bread. They become afraid that he is mad at them, and one of my favorite exchanges happens. Jesus says this:
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?
Ouch. Then he begins to speak to them, in my mind, really slooooooowly, like talking to a child.
“When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?””
I can just imagine their sheepish response. They look at each other, is this a trick question? Since when does Jesus want us to do math? They answer, “Twelve?” (Whew)
Still in a child’s voice (probably not, but go along with it) Jesus says,
““And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?””
Confidence building at this new game, the disciples answer more quickly, “Seven!”
Here’s the best part. I imagine a long awkward pause. Like that moment when a teacher thinks they’ve explained something so perfectly that certainly you understand it. And in your brain its just a dark empty void….
Jesus waits. They all look at each other. He probably stifles a chuckle. And then says,
“Do you still not understand?”
And that’s how the story ends. And the reader is left to figure out, “understand what?” I think these verses in Ephesians are basically the answer: God has placed all things under his feet. No problem is too big for Jesus.
And yet. Every time we are faced with a problem, we tend to forget this don’t we? We panic. We blame. We despair. We do the very thing the disciples did. But Jesus, I think, is saying, “don’t you remember when I did ______ in your life? Don’t you remember my faithfulness and my character?”
So today, let us remember that he not only is really good at multiplying food, he is amazing at helping us with our problems. No problem, to trial, no suffering, no pain is too big for Jesus. The bigger question isn’t, can Jesus handle it—it’s, will you let him?
Prayer
Jesus I invite you into my problems and I ask for your help. You are above all, and I need you to be above these problems. I cry out for your help and your deliverance.
Author: Christian Dunn
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