James walked with the rest of the disciples through the throngs of people to get to Jesus. They had all been mingling with the people when they saw Jesus wave to them from the top of the rolling hill. As they walked up the small incline, the sun beat down on them. It was a beautiful day, and families, workers, and even servants had all stolen away to hear Jesus teach. Many of them had settled in scattered clumps all around the hill where Jesus had been teaching.
He sidestep and then did a little hop to avoid stepping on a child and falling into a man.
They reached the top of the hill, and Jesus looked around the crowd of people.
"I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat." Jesus looked at them briefly before turning his attention back to the people. "And I am unwilling to send them away hungry. They would faint on the way."
James blinked, and glanced quickly at the others. From his view, they all wore the same look of confusion mixed with frustration that he was feeling. How were they going to feed all these people?
No one had dared to ask the obvious yet, and James glanced quickly at he multitude. Why, there's got to be at lease four thousand men here! That's not even counting all the women and children. Oh, no!
Matthew looked at the people, looked at their own supplies piled up nice and neat on the hill, and then looked at Jesus. "Where are we going to get enough bread to feed so many people?" He asked Jesus.
Jesus sighed, and asked, "How may loaves do you have?"
Peter dashed over to the supplies to double check their inventory. "We have seven and a few small fish."
Jesus nodded. "Direct the crowd to sit down on the grass," he said with a smirk. Then he took one of the loaves, and broke it.
Based on Matthew 14:32-36
(In this instance, the Bible doesn't list who was talking to Jesus and answering Him. I chose a few of the disciples to help make this point.)
This story is based on the time Jesus fed the four thousand. This happened after the time Jesus fed the five thousand. It was a completely separate occasion.
The disciples had seen Jesus perform this miracle before. They had personally been the ones to deliver this miracle to the people. Yet the second time around they still said, "Where are we going to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?"
These men had already seen the answer, but they still asked. It's like they forgot what Jesus had done, or didn't think it would happen again. I think that sometimes we see the answer, we know what Jesus can do, but we don't think that He is going to do it. Sometimes we ask "How?" when we should be saying, "Okay, I'll start preparing."
What if those disciples had realized what Jesus was about to do? Instead of scratching their heads, they could have been clapping their hands in anticipation, and bringing Jesus the food while saying to the people, "Just watch what's about to happen. You are going to love this."
Shouldn't we be like that? Instead of worrying and doubting, shouldn't we be telling others, "Just watch and see what God is about to do! It's awesome!" I know that I don't want to live my life doubting, seeing acts of God, but never trusting Him for the next one.
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1
Even though we can't see what God is about to do, shouldn't we trust Him to do whatever it is that He is going to do? Instead we don't expect Him to do anything. The disciples didn't expect another miraculous feeding frenzy, but will you? Will you expect the things of God, instead of asking how?
V. Joy Palmer
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