Matthew 16:7-11: in context

When Jesus warns his disciples about the yeast of the Pharisees, they mistake his meaning, worrying among themselves that they had brought no bread. Jesus perceives their anxiety and rebukes their little faith. Why are you worried that you have no bread? he asks. Do you not yet perceive or remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand? They were anxious about bread, having just twice seen him feed thousands from almost nothing. Their anxiety had forgotten what God had already done.

Jesus' rebuke points to the root of their anxiety: they had forgotten. They worried about having no bread, as though provision were impossible, when they had just twice seen Jesus provide bread for thousands from a few loaves. Their present anxiety had erased the memory of God's past provision; they fretted over a need as though he had never met such a need before, though they had witnessed him do it twice. Do you not remember? Jesus asks; and the question exposes that their anxiety fed on forgetfulness of what God had already done. This is a root of much of our own anxiety. We worry about our needs, our futures, our provision, as though God had never provided before, as though we faced our needs alone and unaided. And often our anxiety, like the disciples', feeds on forgetfulness, forgetting the many times God has already provided, met our needs, proven faithful. If we remembered God's past provision and faithfulness, much of our present anxiety would lose its grip; for the God who provided before is the same God who faces our present need. I will remember the deeds of the LORD, the psalmist says; I will remember your wonders of old. Remembering God's past faithfulness steadies us against present anxiety. This suggests a remedy for anxiety: deliberate remembrance of what God has done. When we are anxious about a need, it helps to remember how God has provided in the past, the many times he has met our needs and proven faithful, so that we face the present need not as though God had never provided, but trusting the God whose past faithfulness assures us of his present care. The disciples' anxiety forgot two miraculous feedings; and our anxiety often forgets the long record of God's provision in our own lives. His compassions, Lamentations says, are new every morning; great is his faithfulness. This calls us to remember God's past provision as an antidote to present anxiety. The disciples worried about bread, having forgotten the God who had just fed thousands; and Jesus' question, do you not remember, calls us to remember what God has done. When we are anxious about our needs, we do well to recall God's past provision and faithfulness, the many times he has met our needs before, so that we trust the God who provided then to provide now, and let the memory of his past faithfulness quiet our present anxiety, remembering, as the disciples failed to, the God who has provided all along.

When I am anxious about my needs, my future, or my provision, does my anxiety feed on forgetfulness, worrying as though God had never provided before, and can Jesus' rebuke of the disciples who fretted about bread just after seeing him feed thousands, do you not yet remember, move me to deliberate remembrance of God's past provision and faithfulness, the many times he has met my needs before, so that I trust the God who provided then to provide now and let the memory of his faithfulness quiet my present anxiety?