Posted on 05/17/2023 4:32:44 AM PDT by metmom
The twelve apostles included "Philip" (Matt. 10:3). Pessimism will blind you to the sufficiency of God’s resources.
It's been said that an optimist sees a glass half full; a pessimist sees it half empty. An optimist sees opportunities; a pessimist sees obstacles. In one sense Philip was an optimist. He recognized Jesus as the Messiah and immediately saw an opportunity to share his discovery with Nathanael. In another sense, Philip was a pessimist because on occasions he failed to see what Christ could accomplish despite the apparent obstacles.
On one such occasion Jesus had just finished teaching and healing a crowd of thousands of people. Night was falling and the people were beginning to get hungry. Apparently Philip was responsible for the food, so Jesus asked him, "Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?" (John 6:5). Philip said, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little" (v. 7). In other words, "We don't have enough resources in our whole savings account to buy enough food for a group this size!" Philip's calculating, pragmatic, pessimistic mind could reach only one conclusion: this is an utter impossibility.
Jesus knew all along how He was going to solve the problem, but He wanted to test Philip's faith (v. 6). Philip should have passed the test because he had already seen Jesus create wine from water at the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11). Despite Philip's failure, Jesus didn't give up on him. Instead, from five barley loaves and two fish He created enough food to feed the entire crowd, thus replacing Philip's pessimism with a reaffirmation of divine sufficiency.
There's a little of Philip in each of us. We've experienced God's saving power and have seen Him answer prayer, yet there are times when we let pessimism rob us of the joy of seeing Him work through obstacles in our lives. Don't let that happen to you. Keep your eyes on Christ and trust in His sufficiency. He will never fail you!
Suggestions for Prayer
Memorize Ephesians 3:20-21. Recite it often as a hymn of praise and an affirmation of your faith in God.
For Further Study
Read Numbers 13 and 14.
What kind of report did the pessimistic spies bring back from the Promised Land?
How did the people react to their report?
How did God react to their report?
From Drawing Near by John MacArthur Copyright © 1993. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.
Studying God’s Word ping
There is just no way to overcome pessimism. No way.
Well the crucifixion was a real downer for the disciples. Somehow the script got flipped anyways.
Now that’s funny.
I think most of us believe that Jesus fed multitudes twice. I’ll bet there was a lot more optimism (excitement, too) on the second occasion.
As a Jew I call him what he is, a Kapo.
You did see the caucus/Devotional label on this thread, did you not?
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Sorry wrong thread.
Sorry wrong thread.
“yet there are times when we let pessimism rob us of the joy of seeing Him work through obstacles in our lives.”
This ought to be tattooed on the foreheads of all the brainwashed, gloom and doom monkeys who post here on FR.
OK. It happens.
Been there, done that.
Pessimism can grow into a really bad habit, asking with all the other unnecessary stinking thinking.
Absolutely right. That’s probably why God admonishes us so much to pray for our situations and cares and be thankful in all things.
It’s hard though.
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