"God can do the miraculous; trust Him to provide the resources!"
In John's telling of feeding of the 5,000 - he shares that Jesus tests Philip with a question; "Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?"
Philip's reply, "Even if we worked for months, we wouldn't have enough money to feed them!" (so human!)
Andrew tells them there is a young boy with a lunch, then adds - "But what good is that with this huge crowd?"
Jesus directs the disciples to have the people sit down. (on a grassy slope) He knew they were tired, as well as physically and spiritually hungry.
Then Jesus took the small resources that were brought to Him, five barley loaves and two fish, and thanked God. You probably know the rest of the story . . . everyone ate until they were full and there were 12 baskets of leftovers!
I love this story! I've heard messages from this passage, I've read it, and I've taught it . . . but today Jesus opened my eyes to something I haven't really paid much attention to - Philip's role in the story and the lesson behind it. Jesus knew that Philip's faith needed to be strengthened. By asking him for a human solution to this situation - knowing there wasn't one, gave Jesus the opportunity to highlight a powerful miracle, one only He could perform!
God is not limited by our resources, yet we often put Him in a box and assume what is and what is not possible! The young boy's lunch - it wasn't much, but he offered it anyway. Jesus asked God's blessings and He provided abundantly!
What human resources do we have today that we think aren't good enough? What resources are available, but we have decided they won't "fix" the problem? Is it up to us to make that decision, or are we to give what we can, do what we can and leave the rest up to God?
One of the commentaries I read said; "If we offer nothing to God, He will have nothing to use. But He can take what little we have and turn it into something great!" I've often heard - God doesn't need our help or resources, He wants us and gives us the opportunity to join Him in His work.
Lord, open my eyes to opportunities to join You in Your work. Thank you for wanting me and my limited resources. Help me to see what You see - to not judge, but to see miracles waiting to happen!
