Listen… Well, you cannot because you are reading. So read!
I recently heard the testimony of a young man named Gabe Poirot. What he said in one portion of it is so profound. It is an often-overlooked Biblical principle that is taught from the beginning. So here it goes.
After these things, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a great crowd followed Him, because they saw His signs which He did for the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountain, and He sat there with His disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.
John 6:1-4
Now, I know most of us have heard this taught and read it for ourselves. The account John gives has a great multitude of people who follow Jesus into the wilderness. Yes, Passover is near, but it is not the timing.
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming to Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?” He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.
John 6:5-6
There is nothing wasted in the Scriptures. Every detail and nuance is there by design. Jesus challenges Philip with a question. Jesus knew what He was going to do, but He was going to teach a profound lesson in what He does. Philip has an answer.
Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for each of them to receive but a little.”
John 6:7
Two hundred denarii is the typical wage a worker earns in 200 days. That is a lot of money. Of which the end result would not accomplish much. In the way John writes, there is an immediate counterpoint. A way out of the seeming predicament. One that a TV hero, MacGyver, knew to focus on when up against the proverbial wall.
One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two small fish. But what are they among so many?”
John 6:8-9
They had a boy’s lunch. But that was so insufficient to feed so many. So what does Jesus do?
Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, numbering about five thousand. Jesus then took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those who were sitting down; and likewise, they distributed the fish, as much as they wanted.
John 6:10-11
What is the difference?
Well, when Jesus asked Philip, his immediate response was to focus on what they did not have. Andrew drew attention to what they did have, which seemed so insignificant given the circumstances. Yet Jesus focused on what they did have. And He thanked the Father for what they did have, feeding thousands of people with so little.
The principle that is being exposed is that the enemy always tends to draw our focus onto what we do not have. Consider the Ten Commandments; the last commandment is “Do not covet.” In a way, that commandment is the foundation on which the others rest. When we focus on what we do not have, it leads to dissipation and failure. One can keep all of the commandments by not coveting and just being thankful for what we have.
I will tell you that all of our problems started with this one trick…
Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?”
Genesis 3:1-7
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the garden; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You will not eat of it, nor will you touch it, or else you will die.’ ”
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasing to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
The serpent drew Eve’s attention away from all of the provisions that she did have from God, which were overwhelmingly abundant… To the one thing not given by God for food. She was not even in a predicament. Her focus was moved.
Likewise, for us, we tend to focus on the wrong things… If only I had more of this or that, I could do great things. Jesus is showing how wrong that kind of thinking really is. MacGyver always looked for what he did have to save the day, just as Jesus silently taught. I know that I am going to try and focus on the things I have right now, and thank the Father profusely for them. Every circumstance is an opportunity to do great things.
The other lesson…
When they were filled, He told His disciples, “Collect the fragments that remain, that nothing may be lost.” So they collected them and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.
John 6:12-13
There were leftovers! What God gives is always way more than enough than what you do not have.
Master's Crumbs 