our scarcity, God’s abundance

In the Gospel of Matthew, just before Jesus miraculously feeds the crowd of 15,000-plus people (we’re told it was 5,000 men “besides women and children,” of whom there were likely at least 10,000), he spends all day healing those in the crowd who were sick.

This story reveals two things about God’s will for the world—first, that God wishes to heal the world of its infirmities, and second, that God’s desire is for the world to find lasting satisfaction in Christ, the living Word. (In Matthew 4 we’re told that humankind does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God—here’s a question to consider: How many words has God spoken? Has God ever stopped speaking?).

Working to accomplish God’s will was at the heart of Jesus’ ministry, and in Matthew 14:16, we hear Jesus inviting the disciples to participate in this work when he says to them, “You give them something to eat.”

In what ways might God be calling you to continue this ministry—to do the work of bringing hope and healing and light to those around you?

You may feel inadequate, that you have nothing to offer. And that’s OK, because the success of the work does not depend on you. When Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, he looked up to heaven, not because that’s where God literally is, but to remind us that we’re not to focus on the impossibilities of our situations, but on the one who will get us through those impossibilities.

In our own strength, we can do nothing. In fact, whatever strength we have is not our own, but is a gift from God. And with God, all things are possible.

Our resources—our time, our energy, our talents and treasure—are limited. But out of our scarcity, God is able to bring forth immeasurable abundance and accomplish infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.

But to experience this miracle of abundance, we’ve got to get involved.

Jesus did not create a giant buffet, multiplying the loaves and fish into a mountain of food so that the crowds could just come up and grab a to-go bucket. No, he broke the loaves into pieces, and it was only when the disciples took the pieces and began giving them to the people that the miracle happened.

If we want to experience the fullness of God’s blessing—the satisfaction of that which is true bread and true life, we must seek, like Jesus, not to be served, but to serve and, looking to heaven, we must take whatever loaves or crumbs we have and trust that God will use them to bring hope, healing, and light to the world around us.