Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “The fear of not having enough”
Our Bible verse for today: “Then He commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them. He broke the loaves and gave them to His disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. Everyone ate and was filled. Then they picked up 12 baskets full of leftover pieces!” Matthew 14:19-20 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “There is a pattern of thinking and acting that God will bless.”
Yesterday we began considering the story of the Loaves and the Fish as it appears in all four Gospels. In that story Jesus miraculously fed 5000 men, plus the women and children who were with them – maybe as many as twenty thousand people.
To set-up the lesson He wanted to teach, Jesus began by asking His disciple Philip to consider how the problem of feeding all those people could potentially be solved. Philip quickly concluded (correctly) that it was impossible (by human standards). Jesus then went on to perform a miracle. He multiplied the little bit of food that was available and miraculously turned it into a great feast that fed thousands of people. The lesson is that God is not limited by what is possible in the physical realm. That includes in terms of material provisions and even finances.
In his book “The God Guarantee: Finding Freedom from the Fear of Not Having Enough”, Jack Alexander notes that Philip was standing right next to the Son of God but he was still thinking according to the rules of human economics. Even though by that time Philip had already come to know Jesus as the Messiah, and even though Philip had witnessed and experienced multiple miracles by Jesus, he still viewed his current situation in terms of what he could do, not in terms of what God could do (proving once again that doubts can crowd out memories).
In this lesson Jack sees a pattern that God honors, and which we can copy, when dealing with seemingly impossible situations in our lives. It’s a way of thinking and acting that demonstrates our faith in God and in what He can do. First we have to offer God what is already available. In this case it was the five loaves and the two fish. (In your life it will be something different, but you do have to be part of solving your own problem.) Second we need to bless it or consecrate it to Him. Jesus prayed over the bread and fish, consecrating it to God. Third we need to let the Lord reorder or rearrange things. In this scene the bread was broken into many pieces before it was miraculously multiplied. And fourth we need to be prepared to share and distribute the results of God’s provision. If our thoughts are to keep it all for ourselves rather than using it to bless others, we’re probably not in synch with God’s thinking about the situation.
The practical application here is that when you’re faced with a seemingly impossible situation that clearly will fail without God’s intervention, don’t let your doubts about it crowd out your memories of all the ways God has protected you and provided for you in the past. Then resolve that you are ready to be a part of your own solution in the current situation. Be prepared to work with God, doing your part and offering whatever you have to bring to bear on the situation. Pray about it, and then be ready to use your blessing from God to be a blessing to others. Be ready to pay it forward. This is a pattern of thinking and acting that God honors and blesses.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 