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Welcome to our look together at Mark chapter 6 in Daily Drive Time Devotions,
day 4. We're looking at verses 31 to 44 today, and it's the story of the feeding
of the which, by the way, is the only miracle that's recorded in all four of the
Gospels. Obviously, it's an important miracle that Jesus worked, and when this
miracle happened, where it happened is meaningful.

Listen to how this began in verses 31 to 34. Then, because so many people were
coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, Jesus said to the
disciples, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get
some rest. " So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns
and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had
compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and so he
began teaching them many things. Here's the setting.

Setting's important, and here's the setting of this one. The disciples had just
finished their first preaching experience. They'd seen God do marvelous things,
but they're tired.

Jesus has just learned of John the Baptist's death. Jesus and the disciples were
weary from ministering to the crowds, and so Jesus had called his disciples to a
place to be alone. Notice that once again, Jesus is here modeling the need to
find times to be alone with God, and in the midst of that, everyone shows up.

In the midst of that, the crowds are there. What are they going to do? We know
what Jesus did.

He had compassion on them. What are the disciples going to do? What am I going
to do when I'm tired and I'm stressed out and still God has something else for
me to do?

How am I going to react? How am I going to respond? Listen to what happened in
verses 35 to 37.

By this time, it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a
remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. Send the people away so
they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves
something to eat.

" But he, Jesus, answered, "You give them something to eat. " They said to him,
"That would take eight months of a man's wages. Are we to go and spend that much
on bread and give it to them to eat?

" For Jesus and the disciples, this powerful miracle of the feeding of the 5,000
began as an unwelcome interruption, this crowd coming towards them even though
they'd gotten away for a rest. The truth is, life is filled with sudden
interruptions, and our first tendency is to ask why. Instead of asking why,
Jesus teaches us here to ask what.

What is God trying to teach me through this interruption? Jesus didn't see the
people as an interruption. He saw them as sheep without a shepherd, and because
of how he saw them, he was able to have compassion on them.

Because of how he saw them, he says, "You give them something to eat. " In
saying that, Jesus is testing the faith of the disciples. He's not being
sarcastic here.

He's testing the faith of the disciples because he knows. He knows exactly what
he's about to do. Now, their immediate response is, "It would take eight months
wages.

" Just think, this is a challenging thought to me. Think of how often our
calculations are based on what is immediately available through human resources.
Think about how often we have more confidence in what we have than in what God
will give.

That's what they were putting confidence in that day. What they had, not what
God could give. Well, Jesus says, "I want you to look at what you have, but then
I also want you to see what I can give.

" Listen to what happened in verses 38 to 42. "How many loaves do you have? " he
asked.

"Go and see. " When they found out, they said, "Five and two fish. " Then Jesus
directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.

So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and
the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then
he gave them to his disciples to set before the people.

He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied and
the disciples picked up 12 basketfuls of broken pieces of fish and bread. The
number of the men who had eaten was 5,000.

5,000 were fed that day. Now, if there were 5,000 men there, if you had just one
woman and one child for every man, there was at least 15, maybe 20,000 people
there that day that were fed. If you look at this miracle, it shows us God's
pattern for how he takes our little and he makes it into his much.

It's the same pattern that you see in Gideon defeating the Mennonite army with
only 300, or in David defeating a Goliath with just a slingshot. How does God
take our little and make it into his much? Here's what he does.

Number one, here's where it starts. God magnifies our need. He magnifies our
need.

Instead of saying, "Oh, it's no problem," he shows us how impossible the problem
really is. Who brings up the issue of food? Jesus does.

Jesus says, "You give them something to eat. " We try to ignore the need and
say, "Oh, it's impossible. I'll pretend it's not there.

" Jesus magnifies the need. I love what J. Vernon McGee says about this.

When Jesus commands the impossible, the reason is obvious. He intends to do the
work. Jesus would not command you to do something impossible except that he's
going to do the work.

I can't do what's impossible, but he can. Step number one is I see how great the
need is. He magnifies the need.

Step number two is, and this is amazing, God reduces our resources. Gideon sees
that he only has an army of 300. David sees that he only has five smooth stones.

The disciples see here there's a little boy who gives a few fish and a few
loaves of bread. God uses this small beginning. He uses small beginnings that we
can't mistake the fact that it's his power that's at work.

He reduces our resources in order to magnify his power. How does God work? How
does he use us?

He magnifies our need. He reduces our resources. Then number three, here's the
key.

Someone trusts God with what little they have. You look at your life and you
say, "What I have to give God is so little. " That's how everyone feels because
it is so little, but God takes the little that we give to him and he does much.

In this case, we know from one of the other gospels that it was a little boy. I
wish we knew his name. God often works like this.

People, we don't know their name, but they give great glory to God. Someone
trusts God, and here's the next thing that happens. God uses the little that we
have to show how great he is.

He took what they gave to him and he used those loaves and that fish to do the
miracle. God doesn't discard what we give him for something better. Oh, those
loaves and fish, those are nice, but let me just conjure some better food
straight out of the air.

Jesus doesn't do that. He uses what we give him to do something greater. He
doesn't discard what we give him for something better.

He uses what little we give him to do something greater. In this case, he took
those loaves and he broke them and he gave. Broken and given.

It is hard to miss the connection to the last night of Jesus' life when he broke
the bread and he said, "This is my body that's to be given for you. " And just
like this day he broke the bread and the fish and gave them to the people and
they were all were satisfied. Jesus' body was broken once for us, but we are
satisfied by the gift of his life.

How does God work to make our little into his much? One, he magnifies our need.
Then he reduces our resources.

Then someone trusts God with what little they have. Then God uses the little we
have to show how great he is. And then number five, the next thing that happens
is God works through us.

He works through us to accomplish his will. Here's Jesus praying that the 5,000
are going to be fed and can you imagine the disciples during this prayer?
They've got to be elbowing each other.

Five loaves, two fish, he's praying over that and this is going to feed all
these people. You can almost imagine them snickering. Okay, we're going to stand
back and watch this, but Jesus doesn't let them stand back.

He gets them involved. They're the ones that hand out the bread. Why were there
12 baskets left over at the end of this?

Well, there is a broader meaning. There are 12 tribes of Israel, the nation of
Israel, and it's an example of the fact that God is going to meet the needs of
his people. But there's also a more personal meaning here.

There are 12 disciples, 12 object lessons, 12 baskets of faith for 12 disciples,
letting each of them know that God worked through them. God did a miracle
through them. It's amazing to me that God works through us.

He could do it without us, but he's chosen not to. He's chosen most usually to
work through us. And the lesson of this miracle is so simple.

You begin with what you have, what little you have. You give it all to Jesus and
you let him do the rest. Let's talk to Jesus for a moment.

And as you talk to the Lord today, I encourage you just ask him these questions
in prayer. Jesus, what do I need to give to you? Jesus, where do I need to trust
you to work instead of just depending on my resources alone?

Jesus, where do I need to give all that I have to you? And see how little
becomes much when I place it in your hands. Thank you, Jesus, that you work in
impossible ways for God's glory.

In your name. Amen. Well, join us tomorrow.

We're going to end our look at this chapter by seeing how Jesus grows our faith
by testing our faith.