A few years ago at the
GLS I heard a new slant on a familiar Bible account . It just shows that God's
Word is timeless and bottomless! We can keep mining it for those
"nuggets" of wisdom all our lives. We've all heard the story about
Jesus feeding the 5,000 from John 6:5-13;
When Jesus looked up and
saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we
buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to
test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip
answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough
bread for each one to have a bite!” Another of his disciples,
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy
with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go
among so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit
down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about
five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves,
gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they
wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough
to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over.
Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled
twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who
had eaten.
This little boy shows up
out of nowhere - gives up his lunch - and then disappears - and
never referred to again. Hmm...
The great truth - the
boy gave what he had and then got out of the way!
Wow, that's a great
lesson for all of us. So many times we just get in God's way, or try to control
things. Next time let's give God what we have and let Him do what He does best.
It will amaze you, and everyone else. Amen?
