Truth #41 - We WILL forget the many blessings God gives us - Matthew 14-16

Matthew 15:32-34
And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” The disciples *said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?” And Jesus *said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”

There is an old Gospel song that we used to sing in churches repeatedly.   It has been bumped from most of our church's playlists, probably because it is simply too old.  Yet, the truth of the song is so vital for us to sing and so applicable to the above text.  Note the words of this old song in the first verse and chorus:

Count Your Many Blessings:
When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
  Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
    And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

The point of the song is to remember the great things God has done for us.   How soon we forget.   Note the story in the above verses of Matthew.   This is the story of God feeding the 4,000 on the mountain side.   No, this is not a typo.  The sentence is NOT supposed to read, "This is a story of the feeding of the 5,000 on the mountain side."  There are two such feedings.  One is 5,000 people, and the other is 4,000 people.  The disciples had already witnessed the feeding of the 5,000.   Now, faced with LESS people to feed and still in the presence of a very LARGE miracle worker in their midst, they ask such an empty question, "Where would we get so many loaves ...?"   They simply failed, facing this challenge, to recall the past things Christ has already done.   Since they were seeing miracles every day, don't you think they would be anticipating and looking for places to see another miracle?   Yet, they failed to considered that Christ could now take seven loaves and a few small fish (more than they had for the 5,000) to feed less people.   But, are not we of the same mindset?  Don't we go through life and experience God's amazing blessings each and every day, only to discover when faced with a challenge we ask, "Where would we get so many _____, to handle this issue?"    We fail to remember or count our blessings.  We fail to recall God's great grace in our lives.  The truth is, God can give us blessing after blessing and we forget each one when faced with a new challenge.   If we can't return to singing just a great Hymn in our churches, let's at least sing it in our lives and hearts.  Count your blessings!!!