Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away.You give them something to eat.” ~ Matthew 14:16
READING: Matthew 14:13-21
Matthew, Mark and Luke’s gospels all record the story of Jesus leading His disciples through the grain fields before they tell the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. From a training standpoint, this is significant. The disciples had been enjoying Manna Time for awhile before they looked with dismay over those hillsides thick with people urgently in need of food.
It must have been quite a shock when Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.”
Yet that was a crucial milestone in the training of the twelve: Now that you have seen Me provide for your needs, go out and become channels of provision to those under your care. Our Manna Time lessons of confident faith and reliance must not remain merely a personal comfort but rather the springboard for our confident trust in God to provide for the needs of the many.
The truth of the matter is that none of us is adequate to meet even the simplest needs of our people. No matter how many seminars or seminaries we have attended, or how many resources we can gather, when weighed against the crush of humanity’s spiritual and emotional brokenness and physical need, we are – all of us – just bumbling novices clutching a little borrowed lunch bag.
Our sufficiency comes, always and only, from our nearness to Christ.
And that’s an enormous comfort!
So, pay close attention to your precious private occasions of Manna Time provision and learn from them the larger vocational lessons of confident dependence on God. It’s the only way any of us can ever hope to obey Jesus’command to feed His sheep.
Dear Father, Make me a channel of Your provision to those You have placed in my care. Amen.
Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI) “Equips Leaders to Plant 5 Million Churches Worldwide.” Learn more
