“When everyone had eaten, the disciples picked up 12 baskets of crusts and broken pieces of bread and crumbs. There were 5,000 men there, not to mention all the women and children” (Matthew 14:20-21, The Voice).
Scarcity is a human problem. We often find ourselves running out of something—time, money, or food. We struggle to make ends meet and wonder why life is so hard.
If we had to describe God with one word, it would be the word, “enough.” God is sufficient! Poverty doesn’t suddenly disappear when we follow His lead, but at every turn we can find something to be grateful for. We may not get everything we want, and we may struggle at times to find what we need. Yet in the end, when we put God’s Kingdom first and choose to follow Him, we have enough. What we have is at least adequate for today. For now!
Sometimes the way God supplies our needs is through other people. Years ago when Linda and I were in college (in the 70’s), we ran out of money. It happened a few days before Thanksgiving and we had just paid all of our bills, including the 10% tithe we regularly gave each pay day. After we did that, we realized we had no money left to buy food. We prayed about it but really didn’t give it more thought. It was what it was. We were poor college students.
The day before Thanksgiving we found an envelope in our mailbox with a $20 bill in it. To this day we don’t know who put it there. Back then you could buy a fair amount of food with $20. Our Thanksgiving meal was not extravagant, but it was sufficient. It was all we needed, and we were grateful.
What Jesus did with the feeding of the 5,000 was more than enough. They had leftovers. We should never underestimate God’s ability to provide.
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