"What If"

   After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.

   Then  great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He preformed on those who were diseased.

   And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.

   Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.

   Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"

   But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.

   Phillip answered Him, "Two hundred scenario worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."

   One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"

   Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.

   And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down: and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.

   So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost."

   Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world." John 6:1-14

   

Have you ever really thought about this statement before? It says that Jesus knew what He was about to do but that He asked the question of His disciple to test him. Test him how? Jesus looked, saw the need, had the solution in mind, and then still stopped to see what Philip's response to His question would be. The Real question today is, what will yours be? 

Will it be like Phillips? Is our response to a tough situation to see only the hopelessness of it all? Is it instead like Andrew's where we try to come up with a solution but immediately drop it because we know it will never be enough? "...a boy here has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?" Would it be to offer no solution at all and to remain silent likely the rest of the disciples? Would we pass the test? Would our response be the one He was hoping for?

The truth is, before His question, none of the disciples had even given any thought to the need to feed this multitude. Jesus looked up, saw them coming, and saw the need.

Jesus always sees! He sees the dilemmas we face. Will our responses pass the test? Will we respond in a way that shows we KNOW He has a plan? That we trust Him? What if the response He was looking for from His disciple was something more like "... Lord, I've seen You turn water into wine, heal the sick,  raise the dead, and cast out demons! This multitude followed us because of miracles! I know You have this covered! What do You want Me to do?"

WHAT IF as His people, who are known by His name, we were to really trust Him to have it covered? What if our first response was to declare Him Lord, and our next was to seek our place in His plan because just as in this encounter it was His plan, His power that multiplied the bread and fish but He also then gave it to the disciples to distribute!