Matthew 14:15–16: “When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.'”

January 12th, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

This chapter records what had been be a very long day in the ministry of Jesus. He received word that His cousin John the Baptist had been murdered, so He tried to get away by boat to a quiet place with His disciples. But a huge crowd followed them. He was moved to compassion for them, and healed and ministered to them until evening. By this point, His disciples were tired. It was late in the day, and they were a long way from any place where they could get food. The disciples were peopled-out and asked Jesus to simply send the crowd away. Ironically, Jesus turned it back on them. He mildly rebuffed them, and then asked them to do something that was impossible unless God was in it. He told them, “You give them something to eat.”

We understand that Jesus was testing them. He knew they didn’t have anything to feed the people with, but He also knew there was a little kid there with bread and fish. True, not much time had passed since they had come back from their first successful ministry tour. True, they had prayed for people and preached and seen God move through them. But they weren’t expecting this command from Jesus. He was telling them to feed the people, and they had little faith or desire to look to Him for a miracle.

If you have been walking with the Lord for more than a few months, you have probably experienced something similar to what the disciples were going through here. It often seems that when we go to God with a request for someone else, He ends up asking us to be His hands and feet to the very person we’re praying for. And it is often a request for us to help in a way that we are not very excited about. Our bad attitudes will cloud our ability to see just what it is God is trying to do for others through us. But like in the miracle of the feeding of the 5000, if we will only be obedient, God will supply everything that is needed.

“LORD, we need You to make us obedient disciples today. We give You permission, in fact we beg You, to over-ride our shortsightedness and open the eyes of our hearts to what You want to do through us this day.”