32. So they departed to a
deserted place in the boat by themselves.
33. But the multitudes saw them
departing, and many knew Him and ran there on foot
from all the cities. They arrived before them and came
together to Him.
34. And Jesus, when He came out,
saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion
for them, because they were like sheep not having a
shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.
35. When the day was now far
spent, His disciples came to Him and said, “This
is a deserted place, and already the hour is late.
36. "Send them away, that they
may go into the surrounding country and villages and
buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to
eat.”
37. But He answered and said to
them, “You give them something to
eat.”
And they said to Him,
“Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of
bread and give them something to eat?”
38. But He said to them,
“How many loaves do you have? Go and
see.”
And when they found out they
said, “Five, and two fish.”
39. Then He commanded them to
make them all sit down in groups on the green grass.
40. So they sat down in ranks,
in hundreds and in fifties.
41. And when He had taken the
five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven,
blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His
disciples to set before them; and the two fish He
divided among them all.
42. So they all ate and were
filled.
43. And they took up twelve
baskets full of fragments and of the fish.
44. Now those who had eaten the
loaves were about five thousand men.
How does God normally
choose to act in the course of human events? Is it by
miracles that interrupt the flow of life like little
heavenly explosions? He certainly could do this, and
we have events recorded in the Bible of such
occurrences. For example, parting the Red Sea must
have been incredible to witness as well as the pillars
of cloud and fire that followed the children of Israel
through their 40 years of wandering in the dessert.
But interestingly, these
miracles didn’t seem to change the people’s
hearts for long. Sure they were impressed and fearful
for a time, but after a while the yawns
came.
So because miracles don’t
always impress the masses, does this mean God no
longer performs miracles? Personally, I think if you
want to see His miracles you have to study His
patterns, and this story of the feeding of the
multitude with a few fish and loaves of bread is a
great place to start. Jesus knew there was a problem
with hungry people, yet He didn’t just turn a few
rocks into a fish and chip stand. Instead He turned to
His disciples and gave them some instructions.
Between now and tomorrow, think
about what took place between the discovery of the
problem and the solution. In the mean time, if you are
sitting with a porn problem, you may be as needy as
the hungry people in this story. Are you looking for a
miracle or a quick fix?