We’re reading through the book of Matthew with our Sunday School class right now and I have to admit that it’s turned out to be a lot better than I originally expected. At first, I was hoping for a study on the book of Romans or a topical study, but we dove in and have had some decent discussions come out of it. What I find interesting is the timing of some of the readings.
I hadn’t noticed that this week we would be reading Matthew 14 when I was determining what this week’s post would be about… but here we are reading this chapter for Sunday School… and I’m finalizing my blog post. I’m not focusing on John the Baptist getting beheaded (Matthew 14:1-12), and I’m not going to do anything with the part where Jesus walks on water and scares His disciples (Matthew 14:22-33). It’s the verses in between. Take a moment to read Matthew 14:13-21.
This is yet another awe-inspiring miracle that Jesus performed. The feeding of the 5,000 with minimal resources. I don’t know about you, but there have been times that I’ve prayed over dinner when we’ve had surprise guests drop by – Please, God, stretch this meal! It’s just not as impressive when it’s two or three extra people when Jesus stretched the meal for thousands!
We always marvel at how God provided for all of those people. We marvel at how God brought abundance from lack. But we typically apply this to our financial resources, stretching our meals for those unexpected (but welcome) guests, or even our gas tank when we’re running on fumes. But a different perspective recently landed for me.
What if we were to see ourselves as the five loaves of bread and two fish?
Above all of my other relationships, I am a wife to my husband. I make effort in our relationship, to grow and strengthen our bond, and to help in areas where he might struggle (and he does the same for me). We also have four kids under our roof with three different schools and activity schedules. I also invest my time in my blog, my YouTube channel, research and writing, and I even do a little bookkeeping once or twice a week.
There are times that I feel stretched thin. Almost to the point of breaking. I can relate to the disciples when they told Jesus, But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish! Some translations have their statement as we have nothing except… or we do not have anything except…. Have you ever looked at what was demanding your attention, your time, or your influence and had those words cross your mind?
I have nothing to offer… I don’t have anything left to give… I have only a piece left of myself…
I have always loved this miracle. I have found comfort in the truth that God can turn little into so much more! I have used this passage to bring me comfort and bolster my faith when I’ve faced uncertainty with finances, food, and even my gas tank. But I never connected it to how Jesus produces abundance in His kids.
God has been doing this long before Jesus fed more than 5,000 people with so little. He used Gideon, a terrified man who was anything but a warrior, to lead a tiny army of a mere 300 to a triumphant victory over the Midianites! In his own words, he was from the weakest clan and was the least in his family… he was threshing wheat in the wrong place because fear had taught him how to survive.
Gideon saw his lack – he saw how he was inadequate, insignificant, and weak. But God saw Gideon with God’s power at work in him. He called Gideon a mighty warrior before he’d done anything. He hadn’t trained, he hadn’t demonstrated skill or courage, and he wasn’t even sure that it was God calling him to do mighty things (Judges 6 – 8)!
Before the disciples had anything in hand to feed the crowd, Jesus declared what they were to do (Matthew 14:16). That’s what God does – He tells us what to do and then transforms us with His power to do it.
Maybe you’ve been feeling inadequate, insignificant, weak… or simply not enough to meet the demands. Perhaps you feel as though you can’t possibly live up to do what God has called you to do. Please hear this: if God has called you to do it, He will carry it through to completion.
As soon as we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we receive a new identity. We’re not training to be made new. We’re not trying to prove our worth to be accepted as a child of God. We’re automatically made new and sealed with the Holy Spirit – we’re given a guarantee that we are His (Ephesians 1:13-14). When we allow God to guide us, we will see His mighty work through our lives.
The disciples didn’t multiply the food… Jesus did. But the disciples followed the steps Jesus directed them in. Gideon didn’t win impressively over armies that were too vast to be numbered… God did. The people were fed to the point of contentment because of Jesus’ strength working where His disciples were weak. The Israelites were freed from the hostile oppression because of the might of our God working through Gideon and his mere 300 warriors.
Gideon wasn’t enough (he wasn’t enough even with 300 warriors). The five loaves and two fish weren’t enough. I’m not enough for all that I’ve been called to do. You’re not enough.
But with Jesus we’re enough in excess. You may not feel like a child of God, but it’s your very identity. You may not feel like you’re very righteous, but you’re the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus (II Corinthians 5:21). You may not feel qualified for your calling, but it’s God who qualifies you, not the world. You see a shortage of supply, but Jesus is our provision in excess.
This is who we are. This is how we’re to operate. We’re not called to be enough – we’re called to rely on the One who was enough in excess. Where we are weak, He is strong (II Corinthians 12:9-10). If you’re feeling stretched thin, or that you have nothing to offer, I pray that you’ll allow Jesus to work His excess in your life. I can promise that you’ll be satisfied and have plenty to share.
