Charlie Dates on Trusting God

September 21st, 2022 | 2 min read

This’ll preach:

The text says now Jesus asked them these questions to test them. He knew what he was gonna do. Jesus says ‘where can we buy bread that we may eat?’ You know what I think Jesus is looking for? The same thing he’s looking for from you and me today.

He’s looking for the same thing in us that he was looking for in Philip. Philip was there when he turned water into wine. He was there when he healed the government official’s child. He was there when he healed the lame man at the pool of Bethesda. So when Jesus looks at your impossibility and says ‘what are we gonna do?’ he’s not asking you to come up with what we’re gonna do. What he’s looking for is ‘have you pieced together the story of your past enough to know that the size of the problem you’re looking at has a solution that’s looking at you?’

Listen to me: Stop looking at the size of your problem and realize the solution is looking at you. Jesus is saying ‘haven’t we been through enough?’ How many times does God have to show you that he can meet your needs so that the next time you have a need you ain’t falling apart worrying, holding yourself, trying to figure out how that need is gonna get met? How many times does God have to show you that he satisfies you so that the next time you’re lonely you don’t have to call pretty Ricky or Bobby or Tony or Mary to satisfy you? You got a track record. Is there anybody here that’s got a track record with God? Is there anyone here that’s lived long enough to see God supply whatever you need, material and immaterial? What God is looking for is faith! …

I’m so glad to remember that when I have no clue how to solve my problem that Jesus already knows what he’s about to do to solve my problem.

Jake Meador

Jake Meador is the editor-in-chief of Mere Orthodoxy. He is a 2010 graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he studied English and History. He lives in Lincoln, NE with his wife Joie, their daughter Davy Joy, and sons Wendell, Austin, and Ambrose. Jake's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Commonweal, Christianity Today, Fare Forward, the University Bookman, Books & Culture, First Things, National Review, Front Porch Republic, and The Run of Play and he has written or contributed to several books, including "In Search of the Common Good," "What Are Christians For?" (both with InterVarsity Press), "A Protestant Christendom?" (with Davenant Press), and "Telling the Stories Right" (with the Front Porch Republic Press).

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Church

Charlie Dates on Trusting God

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