Matthew 16:5-12; Psalm 116:1-2

Matthew 16:5-12
In vv. 1-4 we saw that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law had no faith. In today's verses, Jesus tells the disciples they are people of little faith, v. 8. When Jesus talked about leaven or yeast, which the Jews saw as a symbol for sin, they thought He was talking about bread. They surely should have known from the feeding of the 5000 and 4000 that Jesus was fully able to provide bread! But He wasn't talking about bread or food at all. He was warning the disciples to be careful of the false teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisees were legalists who demanded obedience to the law and traditions--though this was impossible. The Sadducees denied many of the truths about Jesus.

We still deal with similar false teachers today, and so Jesus' warning is certainly up to date. The metaphor of the leaven reminds us that false teaching spreads quickly and contaminates widely. And so we are reminded once again that we must rely on the scriptures themselves. For a believer, the Holy Spirit has promised to be our teacher. He will assure us in our hearts that what we read and study as well as what we are taught is right and good. And on the other hand, if we hear false or questionable teaching, He will warn us--not by an audible voice or sign, but by a still small voice within our own minds that says, "Hold it! I need to check this out according to the Bible!"

Psalm 116:1-2
"I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on  him as long as I live."

What do these two short verses tell us about our Heavenly Father?

• He is worthy of our love!
• He hears us when we pray.
• We can call on Him as long as we live.

Prayer sounds as if it would be easy, but as we all know, it is not! Somehow in our frail human lives, we love what we shouldn't love. We tell our troubles to everyone BUT God. We feel hopeless and abandoned forgetting that God has promised to hear our voices and our cries for mercy. Let us call on him as long as we live. Sometimes people seem to think that we shouldn't pray for ourselves. The scripture does not teach this. We should pray for anything and everything that troubles us!

For our meditation:
"I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on  him as long as I live." Psalm 116:1-2