A Break, An Answer, and A Blessing

by | Sep 1, 2020

Matthew 17: 25-27, When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak.  “What do you think, Simon?” He asked.  “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes – from their own children or from others?”  “From others,”  Peter answered.  “Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him.  “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line.  Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four drachma coin.  Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”  

Clearly Jesus chose His battles with these “leaders”. Not every battle is worth an argument.  He took advantage of the opportunity though to do a work in Peter.  

I am sure it wasn’t always easy being a disciple.  I am sure they loved it though and the lessons they learned, the miracles they saw and the prophecy they saw fulfilled had to be incredible, but there were long days and a lot of people to deal with!  Just to be with Jesus every day had to be an amazing experience though and I am sure that made up for any type of hardships they faced!  To see Him face to face and to know and see first hand who He was had to be such a tremendous blessing.  Even though you can’t see Him, He wants that same closeness in His walk through life with you.  He wants you to experience fully who He is.  

I love this story about the Temple tax because there’s so much in just these few verses:

First of all, when Peter walked in to tell him that he had been asked for the tax money, Jesus answered him before he even asked.  It goes along with the verse Matthew 6:8,
“Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”  He knows and He cares about every detail of your life.  In this case Peter didn’t even have to say a word and Jesus gave Him the answer.  Now, just a few verses before this the disciples had asked why they had not been able to cast a demon out a child and Jesus told them “Because you have so little faith.  Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you.”  

Jesus was constantly working at growing their faith, even in verse 27 of chapter 17.  When is the last time you found money in a fishes’ mouth?  He could have given him the money from anywhere but He chose something totally uncommon which was once again showing Peter that He was the Son of God.  

Now we know that Peter was a fisherman when he began following Jesus.  I don’t know if you have a man in your life that enjoys fishing but I can say that when they are passionate about fishing there’s just nothing on earth like it to them.  My Dad loved to fish and he used to take me fishing and let me tell you we went fishing in boats, off the dock, wading in a creek or lake, we went Smelt dipping, Sucker fishing with spears and we would go camping just to fish all day.  He loved to fish!  How awesome is it that God chose to give Peter a lesson, a breather, an answer and a blessing in finances all in one fell swoop!  He didn’t have to send Peter fishing!  Peter wasn’t asking to go fishing!  Peter wasn’t asking for a break!  God cares about the details of your life!  He cares about it all and He wants to grow your faith in Him!  We live in a world unfortunately where there are even preachers standing in pulpits saying, “well, God doesn’t work that way any more.”  Really?  Because the God I serve says that “He is the same, yesterday, today and forever!”  If you need something today I would like to encourage you to ask God to give you the faith you lack.  Ask Him to show Himself mighty in your life.  Dig in and get to know Him better by spending more time with Him.  Allow Him to teach you and to fill you with His hope, love and faith.  Trust Him that whatever answer He has for you in your situation that truly He loves you and His best is yet to come!

Quote:  “Wealth is not measured by just what we have, but rather by what we have for with we would not take money.”  ~ Anonymous

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