"And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed:
Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.
He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?
He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.
And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.
And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
And they did all eat, and were filled."
Mark 6:35-42
This is a cool miracle, but it is also cool the way that God was teaching the disciples. The day was over and they were in the desert, and everyone was spiritually filled, but physically hungry. They saw the problem. They proposed a solution... send the people away so they can buy some dinner. Time for everyone to go home.
Christ, instead, challenged their solution, and told them what to do... but they didn't know how to obey him, and asked if he meant that they should go and buy food for everyone (with an amount of money that they likely didn't have). Instead of giving them the answer, Christ asked them to find out how much food there actually was. They could do that, and came back with the answer. And then Christ showed them what to do.
I find this remarkably similar to our lives. So often we see problems and we can only think of one way to solve them, even if it isn't a very good solution. As we communicate with God about our problems he often gives us a better solution, but we don't always know how to accomplish it... we're like okay, but I don't have that kind of resources. And then, importantly, God, still teaching us, asks what we *do* have. And, as he did with the disciples, he makes what we have enough.
Today, as we face the difficulties of life, let's try not to jump to the conclusion that our problems are unsolvable or that we don't have the mental, spiritual, physical, or emotional resources to solve them. Instead, let's work with God to take an inventory of what we do have, and have faith that he can make what we have enough.
Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.
He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?
He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.
And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.
And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
And they did all eat, and were filled."
Mark 6:35-42
This is a cool miracle, but it is also cool the way that God was teaching the disciples. The day was over and they were in the desert, and everyone was spiritually filled, but physically hungry. They saw the problem. They proposed a solution... send the people away so they can buy some dinner. Time for everyone to go home.
Christ, instead, challenged their solution, and told them what to do... but they didn't know how to obey him, and asked if he meant that they should go and buy food for everyone (with an amount of money that they likely didn't have). Instead of giving them the answer, Christ asked them to find out how much food there actually was. They could do that, and came back with the answer. And then Christ showed them what to do.
I find this remarkably similar to our lives. So often we see problems and we can only think of one way to solve them, even if it isn't a very good solution. As we communicate with God about our problems he often gives us a better solution, but we don't always know how to accomplish it... we're like okay, but I don't have that kind of resources. And then, importantly, God, still teaching us, asks what we *do* have. And, as he did with the disciples, he makes what we have enough.
Today, as we face the difficulties of life, let's try not to jump to the conclusion that our problems are unsolvable or that we don't have the mental, spiritual, physical, or emotional resources to solve them. Instead, let's work with God to take an inventory of what we do have, and have faith that he can make what we have enough.
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