Welcome to the “But first, Bible” daily devotional podcast with Dave Miers.
Our Old Testament reading for today is from Genesis 27-28 and our New Testament reading is from Matthew 9:18-38.
I want to focus particularly on the final paragraph in Matthew 9. Let me read from verse 35,
[35] And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. [36] When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. [37] Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; [38] therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (ESV)
I love that description of Jesus being moved to compassion when he sees the crowds of people in need. The idea behind the word compassion is to be deeply moved in your inner being. Jesus sees beyond just their physical needs and knows their greatest need is to know and be known by the shepherd.
The good news, as we read elsewhere in the gospels, is that Jesus IS the Shepherd. He’s the Good Shepherd who knows his sheep and he will ultimately lay down his life for the sheep to deal with their greatest need bringing forgiveness of sin and freedom from death.
Jesus wants his disciples to see how they should respond when they see the needs around them. He wants them to pray. The harvest is plentiful: there’s always more people ready to have their needs met by the Shepherd; and there’s always a need for more labourers: so pray that the Lord of the harvest will raise them up and send them out.
Today’s podcast is shorter than normal. I really want to encourage you to not just HEAR this word from Jesus, but to HEED it. To stop right now, and pray.
Pray that God would raise up more workers to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom:
- in your town/city
- in your state
- in your nation
- in the world
And pray that God would give you eyes to see the opportunities that you have to be an answer to this prayer by proclaiming Christ to those around you.
Until tomorrow, keep trusting Jesus.