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NASB | John 6:6 This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 6:6 But He said this to test Philip, because He knew what He was about to do. |
Subject: Are you being put to the test? |
Bible Note: Hi graceful, Thank you for your post for I appreciate the time and thought that you put into it. I, too have spent some amount of time in considering what you have said about my thoughts. The thoughts that you have expressed sound very good and indeed I may agree with you in most of what you said. I'm certainly finding it hard to put into words what I might disagree with, but mostly it is a feeling that I have yet that you might feel that God owes us a living. I believe that God provides. He provided a job for me when I had to leave a job after seven years because of a factory condition that was causing a health problem for me. They were not fixing the condition and after giving them notice I quit, not knowing where I would find work, but relying on God to provide for I could not continue there. With severance pay, I bought a camera and my wife and I took a mini-vacation. Within three days after our vacation I took a job with higher pay, better benefits, and from which I have recently retired some twenty-two years later. God is faithful and will provide and I give Him glory for it. But we have to do our part in job hunting, training, making the best use of our talents and possibilities. God does not owe us a living. Looking back at things most people I would suppose would be able to see how God had been active in their lives, even without them knowing it, but it was not owed them. As a "capitalizer" of pronouns of Deity may I say this. I checked my concordances today for "provider", fully expecting to find that God is our Provider. I did not find it. God provides but it is not His job to see that we are fed. He is, however, our perfect Teacher I believe. He is our Father, Leader, Teacher; Matthew 23. We are slaves, servants, bond-servants and we belong to Him. These are non-paying jobs I believe. I am not saying of course that servants of Christ in the ministry should not be paid for they should be. In fact, the twelve baskets of left over fragments of bread could very well be the payment to the disciples for serving the meal. John 6:12. See William Barclay's "The Gospel of John" from the Daily Study Bible Series. 1) You said, "Jesus could have just as easily chosen to multiply the money." Here I would say that Jesus is not concerned with riches. The question that Jesus put to Philip was, "Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?" He was thinking about bread and more especially the application He would make later in the passage about working for the food which endures to eternal life. He wanted them to believe in Him as the Bread of heaven that gives life to the world. 2) You said, "We are spirits and where we are God is." What came to my mind is Genesis 6:3, "Then the Lord said, 'My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.'" Also, 1 Corinthians 6:17, "But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him." It is our joining to Him that is spoken of for we belong to Him. The Jews of John 6 wanted to force Him to be their king in order to use Him to get the things of an earthly kingdom. We all need to make sure that we allow God to use us for spiritual things and not look to use God. I look forward to more comments or admonishment. From the heart, Ray |