James 1:12-18 / Mark 8:14-21
It is said that if you can't explain something simply, then it is because you don't understand it well enough (Albert Einstein).
Which is quite true because as long as you don't have to stand before someone or before an audience to talk about and explain something that you should know, then you would tend to think you know it all.
It is only when we are put to the test, then we will know how we will fare and how much we understand.
Similarly with faith. Faith that is not tested under trials may be a faith that exists only in concepts and ideas.
And it is clear that trials and even temptations are not placed in our paths by a sadistic God who wants to amuse Himself when we fail and fall.
Rather, it is an occasion for us to stand firm in faith and to face the test of the temptation and also to know that in such times, we need the grace of God to be able to overcome those trials and temptations.
So even when Jesus was telling His disciples to keep their eyes open and to be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod, they somehow went off-tangent and thought that it was because they had no bread with them.
We would have thought that their being with Jesus should have made them sharper to understand what He was saying.
Jesus even had to chide them by asking: Do you not understand? Have you no perception? Are your minds closed? Or do you not remember?
But by the grace of God, eventually they will understand, and perceive, and remember.
And so will we. And then we will witness. We will stand firm in trials and temptations and draw strength from the grace of God.