Mark 6:38 – “And He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!”  NASB

I do not know what comes to your mind when you read that or if you paused long enough to consider it.  Jesus had been teaching a massive crowd of people and had kept them a long time.  Wow!  Jesus was sometimes a long-winded preacher.  That gives me a sense of comfort and security in my style of preaching.  But that is not the topic I want to discuss or the style I want to defend.

The day was winding down, the crowd was large, and hungry.  The disciple came to Jesus and said, “Lord, this place is desolate, there are no What-a-burgers near, and it is getting late.  Why don’t you send them into the surrounding villages so they can find a McDonald’s and get something to eat?”  Jesus was undaunted by their plea and said, “I have a better idea, why don’t you give them something to eat?”  Actually, He said emphatically, “You give them something to eat!”

I laugh at their protest and realize that I would have probably done the same as they.  They said, “But LORD, are we going to take a couple of hundred dollars and buy something for this massive crowd?  Even if there was a place to buy food that would not be enough.”  Jesus probably smiled and said, “How many loaves do you have?”  Before they could respond He said, “Go Look!”

I can only imagine the stress they were feeling when they checked with everyone and discovered that they only had five loaves of bread and two fish.  How would you like to be in a situation where you had several thousand people to feed and had five loaves of bread and two fish?  I don’t care what size the loaves or the fish were, they won’t do it, in the natural. 

It is interesting to me that Jesus told them to “Go Look!”  They were already in a condition of weak faith.  They were already viewing things in the natural. They were already in a state of mind that the best approach was to transfer responsibility from themselves to the crowd.  Now, Jesus says, “Go Look!”  He knew that when they did, they would be even more pessimistic and doubtful.  The Bible says in John’s reporting of this that Jesus said this to Philip to test him because He (Jesus) already knew what He was going to do.

This was an opportunity for the disciples to see beyond what they could see in the natural.  This was an opportunity for them to resist allowing what they could see in the natural to destroy their faith.  This was an opportunity for them to participate in what He had been teaching and demonstrating regarding the Power and Provision of the Father.  This was their opportunity to participate in seeing the Kingdom demonstrate on this earth.

How many times do we see something in the natural and no matter what God has said, we trust what we see more than what God has said?  How many times do we allow what we can see and the smallness of our resources, in the natural, to prevent us from receiving God’s miracle?  How often do we allow the natural to override the supernatural?  Jesus was allowing them to move beyond what they could see in the natural to looking into the supernatural realm and seeing its Limitlessness.

As I write, I recall the directive of Elijah as he prayed for rain, “Go look!”  He sent his servant to see if there was any sign of rain.  Each time he came back with the report that there was no change.  Finally, the servant came back and said, “I see a cloud the size of a man’s hand.”  The prophet jumped up and said, “I hear the sound of abundance of rain – Run Before the Flood overtakes you.”  All he needed was a wisp of a cloud to believe the Promise.  Sounds like ‘a mustard seed.’ 

We must become people who believe that God is the God of the impossible and that nothing is impossible with God.  If we will just ‘Go Look!’ and refuse to allow what we see in the natural shipwreck our confidence in His Promises, we will see the Miracle!

God bless you as you enjoy this day in Jesus!