Luke 9:12-17 MSG. “As the day declined, the Twelve said, “Dismiss the crowd so they can go to the farms or villages around here and get a room for the night and a bite to eat. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.” “You feed them,” Jesus said. They said, “We couldn’t scrape up more than five loaves of bread and a couple of fish—unless, of course, you want us to go to town ourselves and buy food for everybody.” (There were more than five thousand people in the crowd.) But he went ahead and directed his disciples, “Sit them down in groups of about fifty.” They did what he said, and soon had everyone seated. He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread and fish to the disciples to hand out to the crowd. After the people had all eaten their fill, twelve baskets of leftovers were gathered up.”
Observation
Earlier in this chapter, Jesus commissioned and sent the 12 disciples out on their own to preach the Gospel and heal the sick. He sent them out with nothing and said to them, “Don’t load yourselves up with equipment. Keep it simple; you are the equipment.” (MSG) (ESV Luke 9:3 And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.”). They had personal encounters with the power of God through miracles of healing and provision for them along the way – without Jesus present. Now comes the test to see what they learned. “’You feed them,’ Jesus said.”
Had they learned from their previous journey to think in the supernatural when faced with the humanly impossible? Would they understand that the supernatural power to heal and provide for one or a few was just as easily able to translate to provide for the 5000? Would they be defeated or discouraged by the overwhelming task because the crowd was so large and their thinking was stuck in the natural and humanly possible rather than the miraculous? Were there 12 baskets of leftovers as a sign – one for each of the 12 disciples – to engrave a mental picture reminding them to think outside the possible box?
Impact on Me
I find that I need to be reminded to think outside the possible box when events or circumstances seem overwhelming or impossible or out of my control. Honestly, I don’t need a group of 5000 to go there. In ministry settings, I see and hear of things daily that are humanly impossible to manage or change and require a miracle to fix – both visible and invisible – sickness and disease, broken hearts and spirits, emotional wounds that will not heal, those who are desperate and hopeless or will not be consoled, those running away from God, mental illness, incurable diseases, financial crises and so on. There have been many times in my life when I have experienced the miraculous provision and witnessed the unmistakable exercise of the power of God to save, heal, deliver and redeem – all humanly impossible, but very natural for our God.
Like the disciples, I know that the power exists and can do all I have seen it do before; BUT will I fail the test if Jesus asks me to believe the impossible that I have not yet seen? Am I able to keep my thinking outside the possible box and respond according to God’s possibilities rather than my own? Can I learn to live outside the possible box in His supernatural possibilities? If I can make this leap of faith, can He use me in ways He never has before? I am grateful for my own big baskets of leftovers to remind me to have the mind of Christ and think supernaturally no matter what I face.
Devotion
Lord God, All Powerful, Jehovah Jireh, my Provider, full of grace and mercy, You are our firm foundation, ever faithful. I was raised to be an overachieving perfectionist, so it is so easy to rely on my own strength, abilities and everything I’ve done before rather than consult You regarding Your plan for this moment and whether You have something different in mind this time. In this instance, I would have been working and stressing in the possible – running off to town to try to find food – when You had a different plan and purpose for providing the need and demonstrating to me how to operate in the supernatural where all things are possible. Help me to stop to consult You first and put my trust absolutely in Your way so that I can be simply Your hand to accomplish Your will and purposes. Make it so in Jesus’ name.
Pressing On In His Footsteps 