The Lord made another passage in the New testament jump out at me today. I was reading the 6th chapter of John. You all know the story. Jesus is sitting on the mountainside with his disciples as a great crowd of five thousand is gathering to hear Him. He looks at Philip and says, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”
Jesus asks the quintessential rhetorical question here. Verse 6 tells us He asks this only to test Philip. Jesus knew exactly what he was going to do to provide food.
Philip, taking the words of his Master literally, answered with sincerity, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
Andrew, Peter’s brother, also concerned about “the problem” that they think Jesus has, then speaks up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will THEY go among so many?”
Can’t you just picture the disciples? A large crowd…..I mean LARGE. The feeding of which is humanly impossible. No catering services here. No food markets on the hillside. I imagine the disciples are getting antsy and a bit frantic. Especially since they think Jesus is asking THEM for advice! Their Lord and Master, miracle worker, is not knowing what to do?? To the twelve disciples, it feels like a no-win scenario filled with angst. But then Jesus steps up, blesses the fish and bread and it multiplies before everyone's eyes, enough to feed the entire crowd (with leftovers to boot).
In studying this story, God encouraged me with the reason why Jesus asked Philip such an irrelevant question. Jesus was making a point. He wanted Philip and all the other disciples to acknowledge the fact that there was no human solution to this problem. It was the epitome of hopelessness. Jesus did it that way so God would get all the glory for the miraculous provision that was going to happen.
Not only did the disciples witness the miracle, but verse 14 tells us about the crowd’s reaction, “After the people saw the miraculous signs that Jesus did, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the prophet who is to come into the world.’”
Not only did the disciples witness the miracle, but verse 14 tells us about the crowd’s reaction, “After the people saw the miraculous signs that Jesus did, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the prophet who is to come into the world.’”
According to medical science, stage 4 lung cancer is a pretty hopeless fix to be in. But I serve a God of miracles, a God who delights in impossiblities, a God who doesn’t want us to look to anyone or anything except His power and might for a solution.
And I do. Without wavering.
1 comment:
Amen. His miracle are only seen in situations such as yours, but they are certainly seen! Still praying with my intentional picture in mind. =)
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