Look inside this book.Where the Bush is Burning: A Daily Devotional by [Thomas Tice]

Tag: Mark
Food For Hungry Souls

Food For Hungry Souls

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Food For Hungry Souls

And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. So they all ate and were filled.

Mark 6:41,42

As we continue our consideration of this notable miracle, we come to the crux of it in the verses which serve as our text today. Christ meets our most basic needs. In the passage before us, He saw that they were ignorant, and He taught them. He saw that were weary and He gave them rest. He saw that they were scattered, and He organized them. Here at the last, He saw that they were hungry, and He fed them. So also, Christ ever feeds us. Not only does He provide for us, ‘food and raiment,’ in the physical sense, but in more spiritual terms, He provides for us, ‘a feast of fat things,’ by enabling us to feed upon Himself, ‘the Bread of Life.’ Souls saved by Free and Sovereign Grace want one thing. They want more of Christ. This is why it is incumbent upon those of us who prepare daily and weekly ‘meals’ to make much of Christ. Otherwise, we are but substituting sawdust for Bread. Christ fed the 5,000 with the five loaves and two fish. Christ feeds us with Himself. As we daily make use of the means of grace; reading the word of God, praying, hearing it preached, meditating upon it, our cry is, ‘More of Christ.’ Christ will not let that hunger go unsatisfied. He, the Good, Great, and Chief Shepherd will ‘prepare a table before me.’ Christ satisfies this most basic need of His hungering people by ever showing us more of His Own Great Self. This is a never-ending satisfaction, ‘And they did all eat, and were filled.’

O, Great Shepherd of the sheep, we rejoice in You,
in Your abundant daily provision, that satisfies our souls.
Evermore feed us with that fresh Bread from the ovens of Heaven.
Satisfy us with Yourself, and we shall be satisfied indeed.

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice
Sitting Down By Companies

Sitting Down By Companies

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Sitting Down By Companies

Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties.

Mark 6:39-40

God is the God of Order. Out of the chaos and darkness, He brought the creation. Out of the random paganism of ancient days, He called forth Abraham. Throughout the ages of the ancients, He brought the line of the faithful. From the disorder of competing philosophies and ‘revelations,’ He has brought the Scriptures. Here we find Christ, bringing order to that which would have been otherwise disorderly. Our text declares that Christ ‘commanded them to make all sit down by companies.’ It goes on to say that ‘they sat down in ranks by hundreds, and by fifties.’ Christ brings order out of disorder and unifies the disunified. He takes those who are wandering about disconnectedly and, ‘sets the solitary in families.’ Christ declared, ‘I will build my church,’ and so He does. His elect are scattered over the whole earth. They have arrived, by natural birth, into every generation. Christ has ordered and arranged all the circumstances and conditions in order to draw His elect savingly unto Himself. He has sent forth His evangelists to preach Christ. He has sent forth the Holy Spirit to grant regeneration, repentance unto life and to give faith to believe.  Christ has then placed these ‘solitary’ souls in the midst of a ‘company’ of believers, that they might rest, and be fed by His miraculous feeding. As He does in so many others areas, Christ sets our solitary souls in a company of folk who will, with us, continue to sit at the feet of Jesus, and ‘wonder at the gracious words that proceed out of His Mouth.’

Our Great God of wonders, we praise Your Holy Name.
You, by Your Merciful Power, bring order out of our disorder,
and organize that which would, without You, be utter chaos.

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice

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