¹¹ The Pharisees came out and started an argument with Jesus. They wanted to test him by asking for a sign from heaven. ¹² Jesus groaned and said, “Why are you always looking for a sign? I can promise you that you will not be given one!”  ¹⁶ The disciples talked this over and said to each other, “He must be saying this because we don’t have any bread.”

¹⁷ Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you talking about not having any bread? Don’t you understand? Are your minds still closed? ¹⁸ Are your eyes blind and your ears deaf? Don’t you remember ¹⁹ how many baskets of leftovers you picked up when I fed those five thousand people with only five small loaves of bread?”

“Yes,” the disciples answered. “There were twelve baskets.”

²⁰ Jesus then asked, “And how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up when I broke seven small loaves of bread for those four thousand people?” 

“Seven,” they answered.

²¹ “Don’t you know what I am talking about by now?” Jesus asked.  – Mark 8

Faith is the evidence of things hoped for and evidence of things not see. Hebrews 11:1

There are lessons to be learned on these verses:

1. They wanted to test him by asking for a sign from heaven.  –  This is the problem of God with me – we lack faith in God and belief in His plans. We keep questioning God’s ability.
2. “Why are you always looking for a sign? I can promise you that you will not be given one!” – God was under no obligation to satisfy further demands of unbelief and willful rejection of the innumerable signs that were being manifested everyday. So Jesus left.
3. “Why are you talking about not having any bread? Don’t you understand? Are your minds still closed? – 

7 Reasons why the Word of God is not understood:

1. Reasoning – it implies doubt and unbelief;
2. Lack of perception – implying dullness;
3. Ignorance – implying lack of interest and study;
4. Hardness of heart – implying stubborness and rebellion;
5. Dull eyes – implying willful blindness of truth;
6. Dull ears – implying willful rejection of truth;
7. Dull forgetfulness – implying willful forgetfulness – talk about tithes as a ‘remembrance’ that God is good. The healing 10 lepers and only 1 came back.

Deuteronomy 8:11-16 – Make sure you don’t forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don’t become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God.

Note that these are ‘willful’. Yung ginusto hindi yung tipong ‘nabigla’ lang or hindi sinasadya.

People do have to reason, doubt, question, hardened the heart, be dull in seeing and hearing and be forgetful. There was no excuse for the disciples to be in this class because they have witnessed all the miracles of Jesus i.e. the feeding of the 5,000, the healings of the blinds, the transfiguration, the walking on the water, the deliverance of those people bound by devils. They should have enough faith in Christ by now to meet every problem.

Faith is not believing God can do it. It is knowing that He will.