Matthew 15:32-39 More Baskets
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: April 23, 2019 Matthew 15:32-39
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?” And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.
(Understanding the Text) They were in the region of the Decapolis near the Sea of Galilee on a mountainside. The crowd was a mixture of Jew and Gentile. They had been there for three days with Jesus ministering to the people. “And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them” according to yesterday’s study. Thus, Jesus had not just been sitting around talking and taking in the worship of others. He had been busy meeting their needs. Had all of them been there the full three days? Probably not. It had probably started as a small crowd that grew and grew as more and more people heard that Jesus was there healing people. Everyone must have been sleeping on the ground. They may have sent representatives from their group into town for food to bring back, or they may have brought some food with them as they traveled, which would make sense. If people went back to purchase food, the knowledge of Jesus’ whereabouts and healing would have spread rapidly so that more people made their way to the mountainside. In addition, the first people to be healed stayed to listen to the lessons of the man who had healed them.
I think that it was not just Jesus healing at this time. I think that maybe the disciples were healing also. They were in the process of being trained. They had been sent out already and debriefed and introduced to seeing Jesus minister to a Gentile woman. This may have been a training exercise for the twelve to heal people and minister to them regardless of background. Then, Jesus adds one more requirement. Ministering to people included taking care of their physical needs so that they are not damaged physically by receiving the spiritual blessing. Jesus tells the disciples that the crowd had a need, which was to be fed. The disciples automatically assumed that they would be required to fill the need, but they didn’t know how. They knew that Jesus had fed 5,000 before, but they didn’t know if that was going to happen again, so they assumed that they would need to go get food from a nearby village, but that was problematic because there would not have been enough food for everyone present, and it sounds like there were no nearby villages.
They started with seven loaves and a few small fish, and they ended up with seven baskets full of food. The lesson here, I think, is that each contribution multiplied. In the other feeding, the lesson was that each person who gave received enough to feed themselves well also. Here, I think the lesson is that God takes whatever we give and multiplies it.
(Revelation of God) Jesus was sending the crowd away because He Himself was planning to leave the place. He had been there three days and now He was going to get in their boat and go to another area. However, He considered the needs of the crowd that He was sending away and wanted to make sure they were taken care of before He left.
(Understanding the Text) They left Decapolis and went to Magadon. So they went from the southeast area of the Decapolis across the lake to the west central area. It looks like they were trying to get as far away from their former location as possible while still staying on the lake. I think this was to make sure that the crowd didn’t follow them.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that Jesus is aware of my needs and is always filled with compassion for me. Jesus will supply the necessities if I trust Him. The One who taught us to simply ask for our daily bread from the Father and expect to receive it, and who told us to consider the lilies and the sparrows, wants me to trust Him to take care of me. I pray to trust You to know the details of my life and not to overlook my needs. I thank You for the way that You have preserved me in the past and made sure that all my needs were met. I pray to trust You and stop worrying that You won’t be caring enough or careful enough to know and meet my needs.