When I read the stories in the Bible I often imagine I’m right there in the middle of the action – crossing the Red Sea with the children of Israel, with Elijah at Mount Carmel or listening to the teaching of Jesus. But my imagination can flounder as my Biblical knowledge is limited. Thinking about the crowds with Jesus at the feeding of the 5,000 , I don’t know enough about their foods, their clothes or habits. Also as a woman I might well have been working in the home and not out listening to Jesus anyway.
Then another thought occurs, would I have been a skeptic or a follower of Jesus. In His day there were those who hung on His every word. His life transformed theirs as they tried to obey His commands. Then there were those who vocally and viciously condemned Him on every score.
It is no different today. There is a remnant who listen to His word, who believe that He the Son of God and have the authority that He gives While others deny and are opposed to the power of God. When I think of what my response would be have been I take heart. The Holy Spirit has crept into my stubborn heart now. By His power I am a follower, His word is written in my heart. Therefore I believe that if I’d lived in Palestine in the days of Jesus, I too would have been a believer, again by the power of the Holy Spirit.