Always Enough

Always Enough

Read: Mark 6:30-44

“How many loaves do you have?”

Mark 6:38

“He who can give thanks for a little will always find he has enough.”

—Anonymous

IN WORD It is a common human tendency to focus on what we lack. Whether we are looking at possessions or problems, we usually zero in on the downside and try to figure out what to do about it. We may have most of what we need toward a certain expense or be mostly pleased with a project. But that’s not what we usually see. We ignore the “most” and focus on the little bit that still needs fixing. Our dissatisfaction and want loom larger to us than all that God has already provided. We grow quite discontent with just a small element of imperfection. The glass, for most of us, is always half—or even only 10 percent—empty.

Jesus did not look at His circumstances this way, and He did not teach His disciples to do so either. He knew what He had already been given, and He knew the God who promised to supply all our needs. When five thousand men and their families needed feeding, Jesus counted a small handful of fish and loaves—and gave thanks! He took what they had in hand and looked to heaven (v. 41). And instead of focusing on the five thousand men and their families for whom there was no available food, Jesus gave thanks for what they had. It wasn’t much, but it was what God had provided. And God never falls short in meeting a need.

IN DEED Could it be that we often miss out on God’s supply because we focus so much on the need and so little on what He has already given? Has Jesus given us a lesson here in praying for provision? There is no pleading, no reminding God of how many people are hungry or how little food there is, no prayers of anguish for the provision Jesus hoped would come but suspected might not. Jesus went through none of the rituals we go through when we see a great need and a lack of resources. Resources are never insufficient when God is involved. So Jesus gave thanks. And the text is succinct and understated as it tells the result in verse 42: “They all ate and were satisfied.”