I need someone to take care of me!

(John 6:14-29)
Our government is spending almost 3 trillion - trillion!!! - per year for its operating budget. It seems to be universal that people have an expectation that someone or some entity will take care of them. The people of Israel clamored for a king so they could be like everyone else. God told Samuel (1 Samuel 8) to "warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do." He warned them about servitude, taxes, and other forms of oppression. Yet the people persisted. We may be a different generation but, as a people, we exhibit the same desire.

[Disclaimer: The point of this is not to be anti-government. Government serves a purpose and has been placed in authority by God. The purpose is to talk about our unhealthy dependency as warned about in scripture.]

In John 6, immediately after Jesus' feeding of the 5000, Jesus withdrew to a mountain hiding place to avoid the people who were wanting to make him king. They saw Jesus as an earthly "savior" -- someone who would meet their needs in the present.While Jesus' walked on water [a little miracle occurred in the middle of all of this :-)] to reach Capernaum, the people continued to search for him and followed him there. When they found him, Jesus reveals their heart to them:

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. (John 6:26 NLT)

Jesus had "taken care" of them. They wanted to make him king in order to take care of them and to free them from Roman rule. Yes, Jesus met their physical needs, but that was not his purpose. Just as Jesus had encouraged the Samaritan woman to partake of living water, he challenged the people to "work for" food that provides eternal life -- that He will give. The people inquired of the work -- "What must we do to do the works God requires?" I don't know if they were truly eager to "work" or if they were apprehensive counting the cost of how much effort this was going to take. But Jesus' response was simple -- "believe the one he has sent."

Jesus didn't come to meet our physical needs. He promised that he'd care for us (as he does for the birds and flowers), but his concern is our spiritual needs. We need to move from a desire to be cared for, to a position of trusting and following God.