I passed by the Chick-fil-A today.  As usual the drive-through was jam-packed with fowl-hungry feeders. 

I sometimes wonder why the chain is so successful.  True, the food is tasty, and the employees are friendly. But I suspect the most important factor has to do with their practice of closing on Sundays.

Obviously, the Lord has blessed their commitment to honor the Lord’s Day, but I think there is more.  You see, when we drive by a Chick-fil-A store, we experience a subconscious urge – a thought that goes something like this: “I can’t always get this when I want it, so I’m gonna get me some right now.”

Let’s face it – we are chicken hoarders.

But seriously, the fear of going without, tends to fuel a stockpile syndrome within us.  That pallet of post-Covid toilet paper in your garage is proof enough.

The prices these days only seem to exaggerate this tendency.  The cost of the basics jump up every week. We want to buy 3 of an item at the current price because we know it will be more expensive the next time.  

I was shocked recently to find that my car insurance went down by a couple dollars.  .05% to be exact. I nearly cried tears of joy.

OK, but what if we had an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-caring, greater than life God, who would intervene and actively care for us?  Would that be enough to quiet that fear?

According to Mark’s Gospel, Jesus’ and His disciples were well overdue for some R&R time.   So, they took a cruise on the sea of Galilee to a lonely place to be by themselves (6:31) But the ambitious mob that followed Him, took off on foot, and intercepted them on the other side.    

Jesus saw them and understood their desperate need.  Mark says, “He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (6:34).  Because of that compassion, He reengaged and began to feed them with His life-giving teaching.

It turned out to be an all-day session.  The sun began to dip beneath the sea and His disciples wanted to wrap things up because it was dinner time.  They were in a desolate place, and they told Jesus that the people were hungry. Or maybe it’s because the disciples were hungry. 

There wasn’t enough money to feed the multitude and even if there was, the nearest bodega was many miles away.  Of course, that’s when Jesus decided that He would literally take things into His own hands, by miraculously multiplying the 5 loaves and 2 fish.

But what I find curious is that the event started with some instructions, “Then He directed them all to sit down in groups on the green grass” Mark 6:39.

How peculiar!  Why specify that they needed to be seated on “green grass?”  Why was this minor detail so important to Jesus? 

Well maybe because green grass is not necessarily common there.   The land is brimming with rocks and dirt.  There is green for a short part of the year until the heat quickly turns the grass brown.   But evidently there was some green grass nearby, and Jesus insisted that they get off the rocks and dirt and sit upon the grass.

Why? Well, where else would you expect sheep to be when it was dinner time?  Those sheep without a shepherd were led to graze in green pastures by the Good Shepherd who deeply loved them and made sure they had what they needed.

I believe Jesus wanted them to connect their experience with Psalm 23 where David wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.” (Psalm 23:1-2) KJV

What a wonderful picture of Jesus our Good Shepherd!

Hey, maybe it’s time for us to lose the hoarding mentality.  Let’s leave the rocks and dirt behind and trust Him to provide the green grass.

A PRAYER: Lord, we want to trust You and your provision.  Please strengthen our faith!

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Scripture passages are from the NETBible ® unless otherwise noted.