Scripture: Mark 6: 34-44
When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. 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 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?” “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 twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of men who had eaten was five thousand.
Observation:
What need did Jesus see in the crowd of 5,000 men?
They were hungry! They had been sitting and listening to Jesus for a long time with no food.
How did the disciples react to the hungry, but dedicated, crowd?
The disciples thought that Jesus should just send the crowd away to get their own food.
And when Jesus suggested to the disciples that they feed them, their reaction was basically, “Uh, yeah right! With what?” The disciples didn’t have any food with them, and they knew that it would take an incredible amount of money to buy food for 5,000 men (not to mention the women and children!)!
What did Jesus do to fill the need?
Jesus took the five loaves and two fish that were found in the crowd and fed everyone to the point where they were satisfied.
And, not only did Jesus give everyone enough to eat…there were leftovers! Jesus went above and beyond the minimum to meet the need of the crowd.
Application:
What needs do you see in the people around you?
What can you do to meet the needs?
Don’t be afraid to go above and beyond the minimum to fill a need.
Prayer:Ask God to give you wisdom in finding and filling others’ needs. Don’t be scared of stepping outside of your comfort zone to help someone—God will be right there with you. Take time to thank God for all of your needs in your life that he has filled
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1 comment:
Cody, your devotions are very well done. Perhaps you should consider compiling them into a devotional by topic when you get more done.
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