ONE DAY the disciples had gone with Jesus in a boat to a desert place on the other side of the lake, so that they might be alone with Him. But they were not quiet for long because a great crowd of people, who had seen the Lord's miracles and the wonderful way He healed people, followed Him there.
When the day was nearly over and the crowd so great, the disciples began to get uneasy as to how all these people would manage when it got dark, for there were no shops where they could buy food and no places to lodge in for the night.
"Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals," the disciples said. But this would never do. The Lord Jesus never turned any one away, so He said, "Give ye them to eat."
Philip asked, "Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat? Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not enough for them, that every one of them may take a little." That was a lot of money when we think that a penny in those days was a working man's daily wage.
Then Jesus made the disciples find out how much food they had there without going to buy. Andrew said, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two little fishes, but what are they among so many?" The disciples, it seems, had forgotten the Lord's miracles and the wonderful things He could do.
Well, the Lord Jesus did just what He had meant to do all the time. He took the little boy's five barley loaves and two small fishes, and multiplied them so that with them He fed all those hungry people. And there were five thousand men there, besides mothers and little boys and girls.
Supposing some of the more hungry among the children wanted "seconds," do you think the Lord Jesus would have refused? No, we are sure He would tell the disciples to give them a good supper, for He is a bountiful Giver.
It was only a little boy who had the five loaves and the two small fishes, but he was near to Jesus in the place where He could use him. It wasn't much that he had, but he didn't say, Maybe I'll keep one loaf and a fish for myself. No, they were all given up to Jesus, and that made all the difference.
It was Jesus who took them in His hands, Jesus who looked up to heaven and blessed them, Jesus who broke them into pieces and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And so everyone had plenty; there was more than they could eat, for the disciples filled twelve baskets full of the pieces that were left.
The Lord Jesus still gives the bread of life to all who will come to Him. And He delights to still use even little folks who own Him as their Saviour, in bringing blessing to the hungry, sin-sick souls all around.
Messages of the Love of God 10/5/1975