"You Give Them Something To Eat"

Today's Reading: Psalm 14, Genesis 15, 1 Chronicles 15:1-16:3, Luke 9:1-50

What an amazing passage of Scripture! Luke 9:1-50 begins with the sending out of the twelve apostles. They were ready to go. Whether they knew it or not, God intended to work through them to do miraculous things.

Jesus would later say that they would do even "greater things" than He had done while on earth.

They come back from their first ministry trip excited! They have seen God work. And, they also come back worn out. It's not uncommon, when serving the Lord, to feel fatigue. Serving God is spiritual battle. It can be intense. It's people work. People can say mean things, or do mean things. Jesus even told his disciples that might happen.

So, even though they come back excited, they are ready for rest. But, when they come back they encounter a crowd of 5,000 men, and many more women and children, who have come to hear Jesus teach and see the disciples. That's right, news had spread about what God was doing through the disciples.

I write all of this to point out something that Jesus said in Luke 9:13. After telling Jesus to send the crowd away, for evening was coming, the disciples were tired, and they were in a desolate place with no food, Jesus said, "You give them something to eat."

The feeding of the 5,000 is one of the most famous stories in the Bible. Have you ever heard a pastor speak about Jesus' first solution to the problem? He said, "You give them something to eat."

The disciples had just been the instruments of God, casting out demons and curing diseases. Jesus knew, if they would let God do it, that the disciples could feed the crowd. The disciples immediately responded to Jesus by showing Him why they couldn't feed the crowd. Jesus then preformed the miracle.

I wonder how many miracles we miss out on because we don't trust the Lord. He wants to do something great, and we miss it. I'm praying that I won't miss my "You give them something to eat" moment.

For notes on all of today's passages click here.