What We Have
“And He asked them, ‘How many loaves do you have?’ They said, ‘Seven.’"—Mark 8:7
God doesn’t ask us to give what we do not have for His service, but He asks us to give what we do have. Consider Jesus with the crowd of four thousand. After gathering to hear Him they were hungry. Jesus calls the disciples to Himself and says,
"I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away" (v. 2-3).
The disciples responded, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” (v. 4). The disciples did not yet understand how their Lord could provide food in such a desolate place. They did not yet know that He was the one whom had fed their fathers manna in the wilderness, and the one from whom they drank water (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:2-4).
Matthew indicates that in addition to the four thousand men there were women and children also present, making the number double or triple that (Matthew 15:38). Jesus knew He was going to feed the four thousand plus, but He was going to use the disciples to do it. He asked them the question, “How many loaves do you have?” (v. 5). They responded, “Seven” (v. 5). It was only when they gave their seven loaves to Jesus that He was able to transform and multiply them,
“And He directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, He broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, He said that these also should be set before them” (v. 6-7).
Jesus wanted them to understand that it was through Him that such tasks could be accomplished. Jesus is dramatically illustrating the truth of John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
Without Jesus—the seven loaves are just that, seven loaves, and completely insufficient to feed a dozen or so much less several thousand. But with Jesus? With Jesus—they could do anything. Mark writes what transpired next,
“And He took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, He broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, He said that these also should be set before them. And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full” (v. 6-8).
With Jesus, there was not only enough food to feed several thousand, there was some left over. The people ate and were satisfied. God wants us to understand a very important spiritual truth—apart from Jesus we can do nothing, but with Jesus we can do anything.
Jesus calls us to do an impossible task—to reach the world for His name. It is beyond our ability, beyond our scope and beyond our strength. It is only through Jesus that the task can be accomplished and the ministry can be done. The opposition to our message is exponential. Not only do we war with our flesh, but the world wars against us and under the guise and deception of the evil one, and Satan is desperately trying to get into the church, introduce false teaching and, turn us against one another. But Jesus wanted the disciples to understand that it is only through Him that the task can be accomplished. Our success in feeding the multitudes is not based on our strength, ingenuity, or power, but in and through Christ. However, Jesus wants to use us—He wants to take us, and what we have, to do the task. And He takes the little that we give and makes it much for His name, glory, and our joy.
May we not be afraid of giving the Lord what we have, even though it may seem so small and insignificant in the sight of such overwhelming odds. But we know that once we do give the Lord the little that we have, He will make it much for His honor and our joy. Amen.
God doesn’t ask us to give what we do not have for His service, but He asks us to give what we do have. Consider Jesus with the crowd of four thousand. After gathering to hear Him they were hungry. Jesus calls the disciples to Himself and says,
"I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away" (v. 2-3).
The disciples responded, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” (v. 4). The disciples did not yet understand how their Lord could provide food in such a desolate place. They did not yet know that He was the one whom had fed their fathers manna in the wilderness, and the one from whom they drank water (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:2-4).
Matthew indicates that in addition to the four thousand men there were women and children also present, making the number double or triple that (Matthew 15:38). Jesus knew He was going to feed the four thousand plus, but He was going to use the disciples to do it. He asked them the question, “How many loaves do you have?” (v. 5). They responded, “Seven” (v. 5). It was only when they gave their seven loaves to Jesus that He was able to transform and multiply them,
“And He directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, He broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, He said that these also should be set before them” (v. 6-7).
Jesus wanted them to understand that it was through Him that such tasks could be accomplished. Jesus is dramatically illustrating the truth of John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
Without Jesus—the seven loaves are just that, seven loaves, and completely insufficient to feed a dozen or so much less several thousand. But with Jesus? With Jesus—they could do anything. Mark writes what transpired next,
“And He took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, He broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, He said that these also should be set before them. And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full” (v. 6-8).
With Jesus, there was not only enough food to feed several thousand, there was some left over. The people ate and were satisfied. God wants us to understand a very important spiritual truth—apart from Jesus we can do nothing, but with Jesus we can do anything.
Jesus calls us to do an impossible task—to reach the world for His name. It is beyond our ability, beyond our scope and beyond our strength. It is only through Jesus that the task can be accomplished and the ministry can be done. The opposition to our message is exponential. Not only do we war with our flesh, but the world wars against us and under the guise and deception of the evil one, and Satan is desperately trying to get into the church, introduce false teaching and, turn us against one another. But Jesus wanted the disciples to understand that it is only through Him that the task can be accomplished. Our success in feeding the multitudes is not based on our strength, ingenuity, or power, but in and through Christ. However, Jesus wants to use us—He wants to take us, and what we have, to do the task. And He takes the little that we give and makes it much for His name, glory, and our joy.
May we not be afraid of giving the Lord what we have, even though it may seem so small and insignificant in the sight of such overwhelming odds. But we know that once we do give the Lord the little that we have, He will make it much for His honor and our joy. Amen.
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