Following the feeding of the four thousand, Jesus was tested by the Pharisees who wanted further signs from Him. Jesus spoke about the yeast of the Pharisees, but His disciples were slow to understand that he was no longer talking about literal bread. This prompted Jesus to ask them several challenging questions :‘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? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” (Mark 8:17-19) They could answer the questions about the miracles, but the concluding question indicated that they were still looking at things from a natural perspective only: “Do you still not understand?” (Mark 8:21)
A life of faith is a constant challenge to see and understand spiritual truths, rather than relying only on what we can see and understand with natural vision. As Is 43:18-19 makes plain, we need to perceive and understand rather than simply see. The disciples needed to see beyond the practical side of Jesus’s miracles to the spiritual truths He wanted to teach. They needed to go beyond the Pharisees’ arrogance and demanding attitude (they constantly asked for signs, as Matt 16:1, John 2:18, John 6:30 indicate.) Asking God for signs is not necessarily wrong (Gideon certainly needed God to confirm His calling to Him and God was gracious enough to do that), but the pervasive attitude of refusing to believe and trust God is one we must avoid at all costs.
We must understand that God looks beyond appearances to the heart and the heart attitude is vital in a life of faith. (1 Sam 16:6-7, Prov 4:23, Jer 17:9) Hard hearts are a stumbling-block to walking with God, so we need to allow the water of His word to soften our hearts. Similarly, we need the anointing of God’s Spirit to remove our spiritual ‘wax’ from our ears so we can hear even His gentle whisper and we need God to open our eyes to see the invisible. Remembering is crucial to this process, but it must be a remembering which acts as a spur to faith, not a remembrance that makes a statue out of God’s past actions. Each act of remembrance should be a prod in the direction of trusting Him for more today.
God wants us to have soft hearts, clear vision and sharp hearing. This may no longer be possible in the natural realm as we age and decay! – but it is possible in the spiritual realm. Paul told the Corinthians, ‘Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace.’ (2 Cor 4:16) We may be ‘wasting away’ naturally as we age, but spiritually, renewal and revival are possible at any age. Being spiritually aware and sensitive to God’s Spirit will help us to weather the storms of life and both remember and understand spiritual truths. Then we can become a blessing to others as we speak God’s words to them and offer the words of eternal life to all.