The Miracle of Giving

Anyone growing up in the church knows the story of the feeding of the 5,000… a small boy… five small loaves… two fish… Jesus blessed it and fed the whole crowd with leftovers. Where did the bread and fish come from? John tells us that it came from someone else – a child. Most children in this country do not worry about where their next meal will come from. The parent provides and they eat. If the child was not hungry at the time, it would have been easy for him to give up the food – especially if he didn’t really like it anyway. Yet, he did give it and Jesus used it.

In the feeding of the 4,000 as told in Mark 8, Jesus asked the disciples, “How many loaves do you have?” Mark 8:5. The disciples have been traveling with Jesus. This is not a high salary ministry position. They live from day to day on what is provided to them by others. I wonder if they were tempted to say, “We have seven loaves here, but it is all we have and we don’t know if we will have anything tomorrow, so we had better keep this and make it stretch. We are already pushing it to feed 13 of us with only seven loaves!”

Jesus didn’t give them that option. He took the bread, blessed it, and shared it with the crowd. And amazingly, everyone was fed and there were leftovers. I wonder though if the real miracle was the willingness of the disciples to give up the bread – to let go of their daily sustenance and trust that God would continue to provide for them.

When I look at what God is able to do with that small offering, I wonder what He would do if all those who follow Him would be willing to give whatever they have to Him. It seems there would be no need in the world because when Jesus touches something and blesses it, it has a tendency to multiply and meet many more needs than it would if we hold it tight to ourselves.

Paul takes this idea into the emotional and spiritual realm as well. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” II Corinthians 1:3-4 It seems then that God does not bless us so we can hoard it all for ourselves, but rather so we can bless others. As we offer whatever we have to others, God blesses it, multiplies it and many more are blessed. It is a kingdom full of gracious giving – and everyone benefits!

When Jesus prayed, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” I wonder if He was envisioning this kind of giving, where we offer everything we have to Him to be used for His honor and glory, holding nothing back. It sounds like a bit of heaven to me.

Lord, please give me a kingdom perspective about all that I have. I offer it to you to multiply and use for bringing comfort and blessings to others, not just me. Thank you that I can trust you for provision each day. You are my Provider and I offer all that I have to be used for Your good purposes. Amen.

Learning From the Birds...

Last fall, we traveled to Texas for a family reunion. Being an avid bird watcher, I often have a goal of seeing a bird I have not seen before when we travel. This trip, I was focused on seeing a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. My prayer went something like this: “Lord, I would love to see a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. It is a beautiful part of Your Creation and I am really hoping to see one on this trip. Please show me one somewhere along the way. Amen.” Simple – but God has shown me many beautiful birds when I have asked Him. A Blackburnian Warbler flew in and sat on a branch just a few feet in front of my face. A Scarlet Tanager flew down right past me and perched on a branch just a few feet off the ground. They normally sit on the top of very tall trees and you can hear them, but they are hard to see. That morning, I was sitting on our deck doing my morning devotions and I kept hearing the Scarlet Tanager above me. I tried to see it and could not. In desperation I said, “God, why did You make such a beautiful bird and then perch it so high in the branches I can’t see it?” It wasn’t long after that the bird flew right in front of me and perched on the branch where I could see it clearly without binoculars! I wonder… Does God sometimes tell a bird where to fly and perch?

As we drove through Oklahoma, we watched for the Scissor-tailed. We went to a wildlife preserve thinking it might be a place where they would hang out. No Scissor-tailed was to be found. We were in Texas for several days. Each day, we would go to a local park that had a stream running through it or to another place where we thought Scissor-tailed Flycatchers might hang out. Local people said, “Oh yes, they are around here all the time.” But we didn’t see any. We prayed – my husband prayed that I would see one. I prayed that God would help me accept that I might not see one. I acknowledged that the more important part of His Creation is the people He created and we had rich fellowship with extended family during that time. Finally, hours before we were to depart, we had again gone to the park. Still no Flycatcher. Then on the way back to the hotel, my husband said, “Stop! I think I see one.” We stopped and there sitting on the power line above us was a beautiful Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. I was thrilled. “Thank you God, for showing me this beautiful bird!”

Driving back up through Oklahoma, we rejoiced in the family time together and in seeing the bird I had asked for on this trip. We stopped to spend time with more family and decided to go out to dinner that evening. We chose a restaurant in a nearby town and began our drive. I was with my sister and was telling her about the Scissor-tailed sighting and she pointed up to the power line to the right and said, “There is one now! And there’s another one! And another one! And another one!” Soon I was laughing joyously as we noticed that the road was lined with Scissor-tails on either side the whole way from their house to the restaurant. We counted close to 50 of them. The strange thing was that there were only a very few other birds along the way.

I soon realized that God was again teaching me something about Himself. He said to me, “You asked to see A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in Texas. So I showed you ONE Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in Texas. Now I am showing you that your vision is too small. I am the Creator of the universe. I am able to give you so much more than you ask for. I love you. Trust ME to be your Provider. Just as I lined the road with the Scissor-tailed Flycatchers for you to enjoy, I will provide whatever you need. I delight in YOU even as you delight in ME.”

I was reminded of this event as I was reading the story in Mark 6 about Jesus feeding the 5,000 and then walking on water and calming the storm. So often, I read about things like that in the Bible like they are isolated incidents that happened in the past. Sometimes I forget that the Holy Spirit has been given to us to live in us and make this Creation power available to us on a daily basis. We need only to believe and to ask. He can turn a few small loaves of bread and a couple of fish into a feast for 5,000 people! He can tell the wind to calm down and the water to be still! That same God is watching, listening and has compassion for each of us here and now.

Lord, help me to never forget who You are! Open my eyes to see Your wonders all around me, Your assurances that You delight in me, and Your working in me and through me throughout the day. You are an awesome and holy God. I worship You and praise You and delight in You. Today, please give me the strength and focus to serve You well and to reflect Your glory for others to see. Amen.