Calculating
John 6:1-15
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near. 5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. 14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
Before Jesus feeding 5 000 men, He tested his disciples, esp. Philip. He looks like the smartest disciple among Jesus' ones as he was already calculating on the amount of food to get ready for, but Jesus is smarter than him, Philip, because Jesus was asking a question of him, though Jesus had known his mind well enough. Then, why was Jesus testing him with the quest, like that?
Actually, the attitude of Philip is almost the same as mine. Simply put, I'd better do something I can do in a hurry without entrusting the task to God. I am not good at math and not so smart as Philip, but I have a tendency of getting ready for something beforehand, that I may not sit still and wait in a grass until my Father do something for me.
And the other disciples also must have doubted about how Jesus could feed them all 5000 men with 5 loaves and 2 fish, but their worries were not necessary, leaving 12 baskets of the five barley loaves over. It's not that strange, but natural, as they had never seen that happen in life, in a word, it was a miraculous event they had ever seen before.
However, I think that I should act a little differently from now on, I mean, I would do give what I have first, and then trust Him and wait until He does. Truly, I have seen that kind of thing happen in life, living as a Christian. By giving a little thing like 5 loaves and 2 fish or as little as a mustard seed, it comes back to me with more than I have given, leaving over enough.
Faith is far away from counting or calculating on something with my brain, rather depending on His power and His Sovereignty.
