WHAT’S IN YOUR HAND
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!” “How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.” They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”
Mark 6:37-38 NLT
TODAY’S THOUGHT
The disciples come to Jesus wanting Him to send the people away because they are hungry. Jesus tells the disciples to feed them. The disciples have the same answer you and I would have, “With what?” There were probably between fifteen and twenty thousand people. It would take days of preparation and work to prepare food for that many people. Not to mention the amount of money to purchase the food. The disciples knew they didn’t have the money, manpower, or time to feed that many people. They were looking at what they didn’t have instead of looking at what they did have. Jesus’ response to the disciples was, “how much bread do you have?” God is not worried about what we don’t have. He is interested in what we are willing to do with what we do have. Miracles don’t start with what we don’t have, miracles start with what we do have. When we are willing to give to Jesus what we do have, He can take it and turn it into enough for the need. In the Old Testament God asked Moses, “What is in your hand?” Moses said it was a shepherd’s staff. God asked him to throw it down, to release his staff. The moment Moses let go of the staff it became something it had never been. From then on it was not Moses’ staff but the staff of God. It was the staff Moses lifted to part the Red Sea. It was the staff Moses used to strike a rock and bring out water. The disciples gather up five loaves and two fishes. One version of the story says that when they brought them to Jesus one of the disciples commented, “What are they among so many?” We may look at our resources. Our education. Our bank account. Our family of origin. Everything we have and decide like the disciples, “we aren’t enough.” But here is the good news, when we take what we have and give it to God, He takes it and transforms it into more than enough. As long as we hide our gifts, talents, and abilities we will never see what God can do through us and in us. When we give everything we have to God miracles start to happen.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Holy Spirit help me today to give You everything I have. Help me to allow You to use me however You desire.
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