“You Give Them Something
To Eat.”
The
apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and
taught. Then, because so many people
were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to
them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
So they went away by
themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving
recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.
When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because
they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
By this time it was
late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they
said, “and it’s already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to
the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves
something to eat.”
But he answered, “You
give them something to eat.”
They said to him,
“That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that
much on bread and give it to them to eat?”
“How many loaves do
you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”
When they found out,
they said, “Five—and two fish.”
Then Jesus directed
them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat
down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish
and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave
them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish
among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up
twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who
had eaten was five thousand.
Mark
6:30-44
Jesus may have been
testing His disciples, or maybe He wanted them to hands on training to see what
can be done by believers. Either way, they fed five thousand people that day.
Jesus often tells us to do something. If He wants us to do something, He will
provide the tools for it to be done.
We need faith and
vision – the ability to see that God wants us to be His instruments, and that
He will supply what we need.
When God
says do it, He’s already planned the resources we need to accomplish the task.
Our Daily Bread –