trbccoffeebreak

“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3

I don’t know about you, but I often find myself scratching my head trying to figure out a solution for whatever problem I’m facing. I look at the problem and I look at what I have to offer it, and many times I can only see what I lack to fix it. Lately, I’ve noticed two instances of this in the Bible and it’s taught me a couple of things: 1) I’m not alone in trying to figure out the solution to my problems. 2) I’m not supposed to figure it out by myself with my own limited resources.

There once was a mega problem where there seemed to be no solution. We don’t know this story by the problem, though. We know this story by the miracle: The feeding of the 5,000. (Read Matthew 14:13-21, Luke 9:10-17, & John 6:15.) When the problem was presented to Jesus, it was presented only from a practical/impractical point of view. The disciples didn’t know what to do with the real needs of the 5,000 people who had followed Jesus to a remote place to hear what He had to say. They felt responsible but didn’t have the resources in their own hands to meet the needs they saw. They were trying to figure it out themselves. Now, I’ll give them some credit. They did start the brainstorming session by bringing it to Jesus. That was a good start. But they were telling Him *their* plan, not asking Him for *His* plan. Thankfully, Jesus intervened and showed not only them, but thousands of people how He could take the little we have and multiply it to pour into His Kingdom. It doesn’t matter if we have a big budget or are living on a shoestring budget (or plentiful energy vs. lack thereof, or abundance of ideas vs. no ideas, etc. ). When we hand over our sack of resources to Jesus and ask Him how He’s going to “feed the multitudes” before us, He will show us His power with His limitless resources and do more than we could ask or imagine.

Then, I think about the women who were coming to put spices on Jesus’ body after He had died. (Read Mark 16:1-4.) I’m sure in their weeping, tears were hitting the earth beneath their weary feet. All they could concentrate on was their grief and doing the next right thing, which was to tend to the body left behind by the man they thought was their Savior. So, they walked through blurry vision toward the last place they knew Him to be, expecting the permanent reality of His dead body. They worried about who was going to do the impossible job of moving the huge stone away. They probably were concerned about convincing the Roman Soldiers to even let them tend to His body at all. And where were those strapping disciples, anyway? There were problems galore, and they were doing their best to figure them out. But their best wasn’t enough and it wasn’t even necessary in those moments, no matter how well-intended. Jesus had gone before them. Jesus had changed their realities. Jesus had done more than they ever could have asked or imagined. They just needed to look up from their problems and see how He was already at work.

Like the little boy’s sack lunch in the hands of the disciples, these women just had a containment of spices that their hands could carry, and it didn’t seem like enough for the problem ahead of them. But when they looked at what only God could do, what they were carrying no longer was the focus. The power of God can’t be contained no matter what seems to be containing us.

Friends, we don’t have to figure it all out by ourselves. No. We can go directly to the throne of God and ask Him questions like, “How are YOU going to feed this multitude?” and “How are YOU going to roll away this stone?” We can show Him what we bring in our hands and ask Him to use it if He sees fit. But most importantly, we must ask Him to show us Himself and His power in those moments.

He still multiplies fishes and loaves. And He still rolls away stones.

“Lord, help us to not try to figure it all out on our own. We need you and we desire to see your power. Do it again, like you’ve done before. Multiply our fishes and loaves and roll away our stones.

For His Glory

Emily P. Meyer
TRBC Women’s Life