# Questions Day 6 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer: *O God, our Father, Creator of all that is, give us the courage to wrestle with the questions you ask us rather than jumping to some immediate answer—thereby cutting off any possibility of real growth or struggle. Help us stay in the question long enough to hear what it is you have for us there. In the name of Jesus. Amen. (JLB)* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 13 #### How Long, O Lord? #### To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. *13 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?* *2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, 4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. 5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.* #### Scripture for the Day: Mark 8:1-30 #### Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand *8 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” 4 And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” 5 And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” 6 And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8 And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10 And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.[a]* #### The Pharisees Demand a Sign *11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” 13 And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.* *The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod* *14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”[b] 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”* #### Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida *22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus[c] laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”* *Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ* *27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.* #### Reading or Reflection: *A possibility I would like to suggest is this: live with the questions the Lord asks. Take up a Bible and open to the Gospels. Look for the questions Jesus asks of us: Who do you say that I am? What do you want? Are you not worth more than many sparrows? Why do you not believe? Living with these, one after the other—and there are many in the Gospels—can bring us to wholly other, much richer perspective on our lives, maybe to seeing our lives the way God sees them, shot through with light, the joy, the fullness of the risen life of Christ. (Living in the Question by M. Basil Pennington)* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: How Firm a Foundation *How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,* *Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!* *What more can He say than to you He hath said—* *To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?* *Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,* *For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;* *I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,* *Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.* *When through the deep waters I call thee to go,* *The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;* *For I will be with thee thy trouble to bless,* *And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.* *When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,* *My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;* *The flame shall not harm thee; I only design* *Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.* *The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose,* *I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;* *That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,* *I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.* ### Closing Prayer: *It seems to me Lord that we search much too desperately for answers when a good question holds as much grace as an answer. (Seasons of the Heart by Macrina Wiederkehr)*