“How many loaves do you have?”
– Jesus, to the disciples (Mark 6:38)
The dilemma intensified as the fading daylight signaled nightfall’s approach. Thousands had followed Jesus out into the countryside to hear Him teach. The disciples saw they had a hungry crowd on their hands and no possible way to feed them.
During the day, they hadn’t thought to mention the concern to Jesus. But now, their worry got the best of them. They were helpless, stranded without the money or resources necessary to fulfill the people’s need.
While the disciples were fretting over the money they needed and didn’t have, and thinking about the food the crowds needed and couldn’t find, Jesus remained calm. He pierced the air of worry and gloom with a simple question: “How many loaves do you have?”
Often, when God calls us to serve Him, we worry about resources and finances. Can we afford it? Do we have the time? Will it be too costly? Then, when we are sure that we have heard God’s voice, we respond by dangling before Him a list of needed items, as if we were headed to the supermarket with a grocery list.
Jesus didn’t ask the disciples what they thought they needed. Neither does God ask us what we think we need in order to serve Him. He asks us to look at what we already have! In response to our rattling off a list of necessities for ministry, God replies, “Fine. What do you have?” God waits to see what we do with what we have before He intervenes and brings the miracle.
Jesus sent the disciples out to find the loaves and fishes already available. Then, with those loaves and fishes, He performed the miracle. Too often, we think that our inability to earn our salvation means we are unable to do anything even after we are saved. Yes, we are often people of little faith, but God wants to transform our little faith and small resources into a big miracle with limitless possibilities.
A little can become a lot in the hands of Jesus.
