What God Helped Me Discover This Week
“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”
Proverbs 25:2

Recently I was watching a lecture series from The Great Courses called “History of Christianity” on Prime. The professor, Luke Timothy Johnson of Emory University, was talking about the early growth of Christianity and how slow it was for the first three hundred or so years. He showed a bar chart on the screen.

According to Professor Johnson’s chart, in 50 A.D. there were approximately 1,400 Christians worldwide…

Hold up. ONE THOUSAND four hundred? That can’t be right. Jesus fed multitudes (4,000 and 5,000) on two separate occasions. Even if 100% of those people overlapped, that’s still FOUR to FIVE THOUSAND, which is more than ONE THOUSAND four hundred. That’s literally just sections 205 and 206 at the Bridgestone. Come on.

I’m not gonna lie. I was a little down in the mouth about this faux-revelation. One thousand four hundred is a lot less than I had imagined. Did the Bible exaggerate or lie to me? Is Professor Johnson lying or using faulty math?

While I pouted, I decided to do what I always do when chaos in my brain ensues. Purposely slow everything down and be very deliberate. One step at a time.

Okay, first – people traveled all over this region, especially around the time of the Jewish festivals, in this case, Passover. Maybe some people were traveling to Jerusalem. Maybe some had come specifically to see Jesus. Either way, the flow of people wasn’t limited to whoever happened to live in the immediate area. That could help account for the large crowd He saw in small, rural Galilee.

If they had been traveling long distances on foot, my guess is they were hungry. Now here’s some guy on a hill passing out free bread and fish. They were all in!

Maybe….not everybody on the hill was listening to Jesus. Maybe some were just there for the food and a reason to sit still a minute.

My next step was obviously to turn to Scripture to try to figure this out. I did not like the feeling that the stories of the four and five thousand in the Bible were exaggerated or myths at all. I’m not listening to any professor, and I’m not trusting my own reasoning until I see it in black and white (or red and white) in the Word first.

When I grabbed that sword and opened my Bible, I found something I had never noticed before. Jesus already knew some of the people were more interested in the free food than the main event. Like…I’m not interested in the game, I’m just interested in the turkey leg from Logan’s on the north side of Nissan Stadium – sure I’ll go with you!

In all my years of Bible study and Bible reading, I do not remember this verse. Funny how the Spirit reveals things to you at just the right moment.

Jesus says in John 6:26, “Truly, truly I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.” And then He explains to the masses that He Himself is the Bread they should seek, for He is the Bread of Life.

Jesus spoke to and fed 5,000 people, not necessarily 5,000 “Christians” (please don’t make me explain the quotation marks…that is for Intellectual Nerd Jenny, not Big Beautiful Blog Jenny….). When I realized that – people vs. believers/listeners – the trickle of doubt that had formed in my mind was replaced with a flood of faith. The Bible wasn’t wrong. I was. I assumed they were all followers of Jesus, but they weren’t. They were followers of McFishes.

What strikes me hardest here is that Jesus was not discouraged at all. He just kept right on talking and ministering even though He knew some were just there for a rest and a bite to eat. He stuck to the plan. He remained obedient regardless of why they were there.

What this tells me is that our (definitely “my“) expectations for ourselves are pretty high. Maybe impossibly high. We don’t have to have an arena full of people listening to us to make a difference. Sometimes all God is asking of us is to faithfully tell the people already in our lives about Jesus. That’s it. It’s that simple. Just keep talking.

If something nags at you and tries to sap your faith, or if something appears to you as an obstacle, like the 1,400 versus 5,000 did for me, then put on the full armor of God and seek out the answer in the Word. When something doesn’t make sense or seems to contradict Scripture, open your Bible and just start digging. This is the Sword of the Spirit!

Don’t assume. Do not lean on your own understanding. Lean on the Lord’s understanding!

That’s what Proverbs 25:2 means to me. “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.” The truth I needed was already there. I just had to find it.

So, king me!

Prayer for Faith and Guidance
Lord, when I don’t understand, lead me to Your Word always. Help me seek and find Your truth even when I have the smallest of doubts. Let Your Spirit be my guide.

Last month’s Still Waters was “Come” in case you missed it.