Mark 8:4 KJV
And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?
The disciples saw what they considered three major concerns with ministering to the multitude;
The size of the needThere were, the Bible says, about four thousand of them. The numbers would have been daunting in most normal circumstances. That type of crowd requires considerable planning, coordination and manpower to provide for.
The limitation of resourcesThey certainly had not taken enough food with them to provide for a group of any size, much less a crowd as large as this one was.
The seclusion of their location
Even if they had the funding and the manpower to put together a meal for such a multitude, they were in a desert place, a wilderness. There simply was no access to enough food for this size of congregation.
On top of all of this, I see another important word in the verse, "satisfy." They realized that they were being asked to do more than pacify this crowd, they were being asked to satisfy them. They needed not just to give them a bite, but to give them sufficient.
This is a tremendous picture of the predicament the Christian finds himself in today.
The numbers of souls in need of spiritual refreshment is huge and growing larger every day.
The task of getting God's Word to them seems absolutely impossible; too much to ask of us. And we too find our resources so limited.
We have little so far as worldly wealth goes.
We are so few in number compared to the numbers of souls on the planet, and we are a fragmented and divided group, generally not willing to yoke up even with those of like faith, let alone with those of different faiths. I am not saying this is wrong. I believe in independence and separation. I am just pointing out that we are limited in our resources.
And we too are in a wilderness place.
This world is mostly hostile to our faith. We have no where on this earth to turn to find more resources and supply. We scratch out what we can, thankful for any and every provision we find. We certainly can't claim to have a storehouse anywhere nearby where we can requisition unlimited resources.
And on top of that, those we try to minister too seem to want so much more than we believe we can provide. They don't want merely peace with God. They want God to be a genie who answers their every call and gives them their every wish.
The problem seems impossible except for this one thing. We are following our all powerful God whose supply is unlimited and from whose storehouse we may requisition all of heaven. We may not see it with our eyes and we may not always see how that supply is being employed but we can trust our loving Heavenly Father that He has more than enough for those who will receive it.
And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?
The disciples saw what they considered three major concerns with ministering to the multitude;
The size of the needThere were, the Bible says, about four thousand of them. The numbers would have been daunting in most normal circumstances. That type of crowd requires considerable planning, coordination and manpower to provide for.
The limitation of resourcesThey certainly had not taken enough food with them to provide for a group of any size, much less a crowd as large as this one was.
The seclusion of their location
Even if they had the funding and the manpower to put together a meal for such a multitude, they were in a desert place, a wilderness. There simply was no access to enough food for this size of congregation.
On top of all of this, I see another important word in the verse, "satisfy." They realized that they were being asked to do more than pacify this crowd, they were being asked to satisfy them. They needed not just to give them a bite, but to give them sufficient.
This is a tremendous picture of the predicament the Christian finds himself in today.
The numbers of souls in need of spiritual refreshment is huge and growing larger every day.
The task of getting God's Word to them seems absolutely impossible; too much to ask of us. And we too find our resources so limited.
We have little so far as worldly wealth goes.
We are so few in number compared to the numbers of souls on the planet, and we are a fragmented and divided group, generally not willing to yoke up even with those of like faith, let alone with those of different faiths. I am not saying this is wrong. I believe in independence and separation. I am just pointing out that we are limited in our resources.
And we too are in a wilderness place.
This world is mostly hostile to our faith. We have no where on this earth to turn to find more resources and supply. We scratch out what we can, thankful for any and every provision we find. We certainly can't claim to have a storehouse anywhere nearby where we can requisition unlimited resources.
And on top of that, those we try to minister too seem to want so much more than we believe we can provide. They don't want merely peace with God. They want God to be a genie who answers their every call and gives them their every wish.
The problem seems impossible except for this one thing. We are following our all powerful God whose supply is unlimited and from whose storehouse we may requisition all of heaven. We may not see it with our eyes and we may not always see how that supply is being employed but we can trust our loving Heavenly Father that He has more than enough for those who will receive it.
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