Big Faith For Big Problems

Don’t we sometimes forget that, as we face our big problems in life? We forget that Jesus is with us. I am with you always, Jesus says. I will never leave you, never forsake you, Jesus says. We believe, but then a big problem comes into our lives, and then we forget. This problem I have – it’s too big for me to handle. All I have is a high school diploma. All I have is barely enough money to live on. All I have is my family and a few friends. All I have are 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. How can I face my big problems? How can I make a difference in the world? How can I do anything? I don’t have enough!” Have you ever felt that or thought that?

None of it’s true! Yes, as Christians we face big problems in our lives. The world is filled with one big problem after another. The TV will never run out of bad news to share. But we can approach every problem, no matter how big it is, with big faith. Because we have Jesus. The all-loving, all-powerful Son of God, standing right there next to us, looking at the same big problems we are looking at.

Look at what Jesus does here, in Matthew 14. He forgives the disciples for their small-mindedness, their forgetfulness of his power and love, their lack of faith. Bring the basket of food to me, Jesus told them. Then Jesus took charge. He told the people to sit down. The Bible says that he looked up to heaven as he blessed the little amount of food that was there, and then he gave food to the disciples, and they gave food to the people. And notice how much Jesus provided. It wasn’t barely enough to take away the hunger pains. It wasn’t barely enough for the women and children. Everyone had plenty to eat, to the point of feeling full, and there were even leftovers that the disciples went out and picked up. We call this miracle the feeding of the 5000, but that was only the number of men. When you throw in the number of women and children that were there, perhaps there were 10, 15, 20 thousand people that were actually fed.

Jesus wanted his disciples to know that they could face the big problems of life with big faith. Jesus wants us to know that too. He forgives us for all the times we forget about him. Just think about what Jesus has done with our sins – it was the biggest problem you and I have ever faced… to offend the Almighty God with our sins of doubt, with our lack of trust – but even this problem is not too big for Jesus to handle. He took our sins to the cross and paid for them by sacrificing his life. He faced the problem of death by rising from the tomb, changing what happens to us at the moment of death. Because of this same Jesus, who is with us today, right now, we can face our big problems with big faith that he is with us and will bless us in all that we do.

The disciples never pictured themselves walking around with baskets, feeding thousands of people way up in the hills, in the middle of nowhere. But with Jesus, anything is possible. What about you? Can you picture yourself in heaven someday? It will happen. Can you picture yourself facing big problems you head-on? No problem in your life is too big for Jesus to handle. No problem in this world is too big for Jesus to handle. He’s right here with us, and he can do anything. Sometimes, he can even cause us to do things that you or I never thought we’d ever be doing.