Daily Devotional For Thursday, April 11, 2024

We read this in John 6:5-7:

Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for Him. Turning to Philip, He asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” (6) He was testing Philip, for He already knew what He was going to do. (7) Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!” (NLT).

This reminded me of a story I read one time that goes like this:

A little boy was trying to roll over a big rock, and his father was amused as he watched his son. The little boy was grunting, straining, heaving, and sighing, but he couldn’t turn the stone over. His dad, with a whimsical smile on his face, said, “Son, are you using all of your strength?” He said, “Yes, daddy, I’m using all of my strength.” And the dad said, “No, you’re not, because you have not asked me to help you. I am your daddy, and my strength is your strength.”

Sometimes we have problems that we’re wrestling with, and we say, “I don’t know what to do. I’m at the end of my rope. I have run out of my strength.” If that’s the case, then run to God! He is there. The Lord Jesus was trying to get Philip to say, “This is a problem. It may be too big for me, but it’s not too big for You!”

Some of you reading these words today have serious problems. I want to ask you a question. Is your problem big to God? Of course not! He is the Lord. The Lord asks this in Jeremiah 32:27, “I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for Me?” (NLT). If our God has the power to create something, out of nothing, don’t you think He can help you with your problems? If our God has the power to heal and raise the dead, He has the power to help you. 

Unfortunately, many times, God is our last choice. We try everything first — friends, a substance, the Internet and etc before we try God. There is nothing too big for Jesus Christ. Nothing. Do you believe that? I guess the ultimate question you have to answer is this: How BIG is my God? In our story above in John 6, to Phillip, the problem is too big for anyone, including Jesus to solve. Thousands had been following Jesus and everyone is hungry. So, the question is: how and who will feed them. Jesus was not asking advice. Jesus never asked advice for anyone, from anyone about anything, in the true sense of the word. 

I love what Corrie ten Boom said: “There’s no panic in heaven, only plans.” John affirms that here. He says, “Jesus knew what He was going to do.” Jesus was not asking the question to Philip to wanting to learn anything from Philip about how to do this. Jesus was not asking Philip to reveal something about himself that Jesus didn’t already know. Jesus knows what is in every heart. Mine, yours, your spouse, your children, your neighbor, the people you sit next to in church and etc. Nothing is hidden from Him. Jesus knows what’s in your heart. What He wanted was for Philip to learn something about God, and I want you to learn something about God—and that is this: that there’s no problem too big for God to solve.

If you use your imagination you can see once asked the question by Jesus, Phillip did not need to calculate this. We learn there were 5,000 men alone. Count their wives and children and — whew — Phillip felt it would take months of wages to buy enough food to feed all the people following them. The Greek text has Philip saying around 8 months’ wages which is an enormous amount of money. But notice it says that Jesus asked Philip this question for one reason: to test him. The Life Application Bible Commentary adds some insight on this:

“The Greek New Testament word used here is [πειράζω, peirazo] and it refers refers to a proving experience like Jesus’ testing in the wilderness or Abraham’s test over the sacrifice of Isaac. In all these cases, God allowed the test to occur, not expecting failure, but placing the person in a situation where his or her faith might grow stronger. Jesus did not want Philip to miss what he was about to do. Philip did not really answer Jesus’ question. The Lord had asked him to consider the ways of supply (“Where shall we buy bread?”), while Philip responded with what he perceived as the larger problem—the means of supply. Perhaps knowing the area gave him some idea where sufficient quantities of food might be purchased, but why send out buyers if they had no money?” (Source: Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary, “John,” p. 123).

When Jesus asked Philip where they could buy a great quantity of bread, Philip started assessing the probable cost. Jesus wanted to teach him that financial resources are not the most important ones. We can limit what God does in us by assuming what is and is not possible. Is there a seemingly impossible task that you believe God wants you to do? Don’t let your estimate of what can and can’t be done keep you from taking on the task. God can do the miraculous; trust Him to provide the resources. Jesus wanted Philip and all His disciples to learn and believe and apply the biblical truth that nothing is impossible for God. Nothing!

And you know the rest of the story, Jesus took five barley loaves and two small fish and fed all those people, leaven 12 baskets full afterwards — one for each disciple. Andrew looks to the people to provide. And in the Greek text, even the words Andrew used emphasize inadequacy and being diminutive. The word for “lad” means “very small boy.” The word for fish means “little, tiny fish” — sardine size. Andrew’s point was: “Lord, there is not much to work with here.” While Andrew faithfully reported what provision he had found, his final comment revealed his own limited perspective: “but what are these for so many people?”

Some of you will recognize the name of Pastor Adrian Rogers. In a sermon, he once said this:

“Now, on church committees—I’ve been around churches for a long time, and there are three categories of persons on church committees. If you meet and you have a problem, first of all, there are the feelers. The feelers say, “Well, I feel we ought to do this.” Somebody else says, “I feel we ought to do that.” They’re driven by emotion. Secondly, there are the figurers. The figurers don’t pay much attention to the feelers. They just figure it out—whether or not it can be done. But, thank God, there’s a third group on church committees, and we’ve got a lot of them around here: they are the faithers—not the feelers, not the figurers, but the faithers. They just simply find out what God wants to do, and they say, “We’re going to do it. Anything God wants done we can do” (Source: Adrian Rogers Sermon Achieve, “John,” Logos Bible Software).

Questions To Consider

1. What situation are you in right now that seems too big, or overwhelming that it is swallowing you? 
2. Whatever amount of faith you have, however small it might be, would you give it to Jesus to use?
3. How big would Jesus Christ say your faith says God is and why?
4. So when facing a problem that seems impossible, which are you: a feeler, or a figurer, or a faither and why?
5. Whatever your facing that seems impossible or overwhelming is a test from God to you. So, how should you and how will you face it? 

Scripture To Meditate On: Luke 18:27, Jesus said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God” (ESV).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, I really want to be a person of faith. I do not want to be feeler, I do not want to be just a figurer. I want to be a “faither.” I want to trust You unconditionally. I do not want to worry, or attempt to manipulate or scheme. I want to trust You completely. As a father cried out to You with his sick child, “Lord I believe, but help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside! — Pastor Kelly