“We have only…” Luke 9:13
The disciples were looking at the lateness of the day and the crowd of about five thousand men, not counting women and children. Nothing we can do they thought. Better send them away to find food and shelter.
Considering any other option was out of the question. There weren’t any other options. Nothing can be done for this huge crowd. Because there is no way they could feed a group this big. No way.
Isn’t that just where most of us begin our thinking? We see the need. And the need is great. Overwhelming in fact. So much so we don’t consider any other possibility.
Yet, we often quote this familiar verse: “Nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1:37
Or this verse: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Phil 4:13
These often-quoted memory verses have frequently given us hope and strength in the midst of difficulty. But probably not near as often as we have heard ourselves say:
“But we only have…”
Our difficulty continues to be our starting point. When we look at any situation, crisis, or need from our own limited viewpoint, we will always come up short. Instead, we should look at everything from God’s perspective. It is not what we can do that matters. It’s what God can do that matters!
To their surprise (and to ours!) Jesus said, “You give them something to eat.”
Their response was: But Lord, “We only have…”
Take note of what the Lord did not say! Go buy food for all these people…or Find some food and you feed them…He did not say they had to come up with the food. Just, “you give them something to eat.” They assumed they had to come up with the food themselves.
Had they been looking at this scene from God’s perspective, they might have asked:
“Lord, what you like us to give them?” Or “What do you have in mind?”
We tend to limit ourselves in ministry, and in power, because we are not God focused but self-focused. When we finally learn that the church, the ministry, and everything God wants to accomplish through our lives depends on Him and His power and not ours, we will see the miraculous!
Still learning, that it is only when God’s power is revealed, that He is glorified!
Blessed by you…Bro, Sherman
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