Matthew 14:17-21 "And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. He said, Bring them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children."
Most of us have had the experience in our lives of realizing that we do not have a sufficiency in ourselves to do what Jesus has commanded us to do. The disciples had looked out on this great multitude of people and asked Jesus to send them away to find food for themselves. Jesus then told His disciples that the multitude did not need to be sent away and commanded that the disciples feed them.
The disciples looked at what they had and knew it was not enough. How were they ever going to do as Jesus commanded and feed five thousand men plus the women and children (a number that scholars estimate could have totaled between ten and twenty thousand)? All they had on hand was five loaves and two fishes. That hardly seemed enough to divide among the twelve much less to feed such a multitude.
There was only one way that this was ever going to work out. Jesus told His disciples to bring what they had to Him first. He took those five loaves and two fishes, and He looked to the Father and blessed the food. Then He broke the bread and the fish and gave it to His disciples to distribute to the multitude.
Most of us would like to see our congregations grow, and the idea of having thousands to come and worship can be exciting. However, I find it telling that Jesus did not sit the multitude down in one great throng. He had them sit down in companies of fifty and a hundred (Mark 6:39-40). While we would all like to see growth in our churches, I am not sure that the Lord ever intended our congregations to be so large that we could not know one another (just my thought on the matter).
Dear ones, no matter how little we seem to have to offer in the Lord’s service, let us first bring it to Him. Let us trust Him to bless it and break it in such a manner that it will be more than sufficient for the need. And let us never doubt but what His ministering servants will also eat of that which is blessed to feed the multitude. After the disciples had done His bidding, each of them had His own basket to feast from.