In Charles Dickens’ classic “Oliver Twist” a group a boys are starving after slaving in the workhouse. The daily reward for their labor is a bowl of gruel. Oliver is chosen by the boys and makes his famous request, “Please, sir, I want some more.”

 

Mark 8:1-13 tells how people were following Jesus for 3 days without food to eat. They were so hungry for Jesus’ message they would not leave. Nowhere in the text does it say they were begging for food. But Jesus knew their physical condition and had compassion on them multiplying seven loaves that the disciples brought to feed 4,000 people.

 

Contrast the people’s actions with that of the Pharisees. 

 

In Mark 8:11-13, the Pharisees come and are demanding for a “sign from heaven.” Jesus had been giving countless signs for the Pharisees to see, and the bread just fed the thousands was in a sense a “sign from heaven.” God provided for the Israelites with manna when they wandered in the dessert, and now Jesus was providing with bread from heaven. The parallel couldn’t have been clearer, but for the Pharisees they were “wanting some more.”

 

I can remember times when I was younger asking God to show me a sign or do something that would show me his love. I’m sure if God had answered my selfish request I would have gone back to him with “I want some more”— not because I was starving but because in my sinfulness I always want more. 

 

God does give us what we need.   I am reminded about the many signs of God’s love when I step back and look at the blessings God has given me in my family, my church family, a job that provides for my needs and most of a loving savior.

 

What “signs from heaven” do you see around you?