Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15;
Matthew 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-52; John 6:16-21
Now when it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to Him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And He said, “Bring them here to Me.”
Matthew 14:1518
How often do we come to Jesus, all tired and worn out from all our labors, and tell Jesus what to do? We recognize a problem, we size up the situation, we figure out a reasonably practical solution, which we convey to Jesus, giving Him instructions for how to take care of the problem. But then He declines to follow our plan and tells us to try again. But how? We already know we don’t have sufficient resources. How can we possibly handle the problem with the resources we have on hand?
“Bring them here to Me.”
We’re bumfuzzled. We can’t conceive of what the Lord is thinking. Maybe He does not properly understand the situation. Do we persist in pursuing our original plan? Or do we trust Him and offer up what meager resources we have into His hands?
“Bring them here to Me.”
If we trust and obey, we might just find that His plan is better than ours.
“Bring them here to Me.”
See also: