There are times when we can feel overwhelmed by the demands of life. We seek solutions but they seem impossible to achieve based on what little resources we have available to us. This can lead us to overlook how God can take seemingly insufficient things and multiply them to meet needs in ways we never expected.
We see this in John 6:1-15, a well-known passage where Jesus feeds the 5,000. In verse five and six, Jesus tests his disciple Phillip by asking, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” These verses tell us Jesus already knows what he is going to do, but he wants to see how his disciples respond to the situation. The question is very revealing. Phillip answers like we do so many times to problems we face. We’re standing there surrounded by hungry people and all we can say is, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
Phillip can only comprehend the cost to barely provide an appetizer for all those people. Andrew chimes in with a different answer. He seeks help from the crowd and brings a boy to Jesus with five small barley loaves and two small fish. Then he asks Jesus, “How far will they go among so many?” Phillip and Andrew can only see what’s in front of them as answers to the hungry crowd.
Jesus encourages us to look beyond our own abilities and resources and seek Him. Too often we respond like Phillip where we can only see the cost or like Andrew where we can only see what is in front of us. We shouldn’t just reluctantly turn to Christ pleading, “What can you possibly do with this small amount? How can we possibly get this much money to meet all these needs?”
Jesus wants us to bring what little we have, our doubts and all, and lay them before his feet. Through Him lives can be transformed, hunger can be satisfied and thirst can be quenched with living water. It is an opportunity to experience the life Jesus offers when we choose to trust Him. It is Jesus who does the multiplying through us with what he has given us.
Jesus is all about multiplying what little we have whether now or across generations. We need to come to Him with the faith of a mustard seed, planting it and nourishing it with the expectation that ultimately God will do great things. Note in verse 11 that Jesus takes the little that the apostles brought to him, gives thanks to God and then has it distributed to the people. It is after everyone has their fill that they see God’s provision.
We should do the same. Give thanks for what God has given us and work with what we have. Then let God do the multiplying so everyone can have their fill instead of just an appetizer.
#ThrowbackThursday — This post originally published June 29, 2017.
© 2017 CGThelen
140 Character Christian 
I like the picture of the bread. Here in Newfoundland, we bread bakers bake loaves made of three smaller loaves joined together, in honour of the Trinity. 🤗
I love to bake bread. The picture is a batch that came out particularly well. Like that concept of three smaller loaves together representing the Trinity. I usually bake a couple small loaves, with the large loaves, to give away.
That is an act of great generosity. Home made bread is soothing both to the baker and to those who share the baker’s gifts. 🤗
That’s what our pastor preached on tonight! Thanks for sharing this awesome post!
Love how God works. Thanks for the comment. Blessings.
Yes indeed!
You know I have been thinking about writing book, titled, Out of the Box God. through the years God has met our needs and beyond our needs with such out of box ways. Just recently, a friend of my husband, actually a supporter of ours gave my husband his Electric car that tore up. The dealer wanted to much money to even check it so my husband friend just went and bought another car. He knew Ace was always fixing things on our 2003 Buick so he offered his tore up car to us to fix up. Of course my husband knows nothing about electric car but we have a former missionary friend who has his own business working only on Prisis. So my husband called him and he said, sure I come get it and give him 5 hundred dollars for it. In a few days that transaction was over. The former owner of the car gave the 5 hundred to us. The man who is working on it said, he would sell it and what ever is left after buying parts he would give us the rest. Our of the box…I have dozen of stories like this, God love to work out of our box. Great post.
That’s a great story. God is so amazing. He works in ways we can’t even imagine. He is so faithful to us, our provider. Thanks for sharing your story and your thoughts. Blessings to you.
Wow thanks for a great post!
Thanks for reading. Blessings to you.