The books of Matthew, Mark and John all describe in their writings a situation where a crowd of people found themselves faced with a life-threatening situation. They had been listening to Jesus teach as he passed through their town and (possibly inadvertently) followed him far away from their city to land which was considered desert. Matthew and John's telling of the story shares that the crowd followed Jesus specifically because of a particular miracle they had seen; namely, he healed their sick. Having also followed Jesus, the disciples became aware of an arising condition where there would not be enough food to feed all the people... not nearly enough.
According to the book of John, Jesus addressed the issue by asking his disciple Phillip,
"Where can we buy bread for all of these people?" John 6:5
Phillip's response was that, even if there were a place to buy the amount of bread they would need, it would take 6-months’ salary to buy enough for everyone in the crowd to get even a little bite (John 6:7).
The bible makes it clear that this situation caused somewhat of a panic among the disciples; as it would have fallen on their shoulders to figure out what to do. Meaning, this crowd was now their responsibility. However, no resources could be seen which might resolve the issue that was quickly developing.
At this point, Jesus' disciple Andrew joined the conversation with his discovery,
"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves, and two small fish: but what are they among so many?" John 6:9.
Many Christians, when faced with this situation, respond this way. We look into our hands and find that what we have is not enough... not nearly enough to do what we need to do. The word which describes this situation best is the word "lack"; we "lack" what we need. Seeing the insufficient amount, we often ask the same question that Andrew asked Jesus, "What is this among so many?"
What is $100 when the debt is thousands? What is an individual's effort when the job takes dozens? What is a handful of mission workers among a large city's population of non-believers? Your answer will be determined by your realization of what Jesus teaches in this bible story.
Christians claim to have faith in God but fail far too often in this situation. We've become so afraid of "lack" that we choose to limit our efforts or retreat from our mission altogether rather than face it. Our alternative is usually to scale-down the scope. Meaning, we send people away; which is what the disciples urged Jesus to do in this story,
"This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food..." Matthew 14:15
There are ministries today in every city that refuse to move forward in work which God has called them to do. Why? Because they saw a situation developing where they would not have enough resources to do what they had planned. And so there they sit; at a standstill. The ministry is stalled; the mission now on a back-burner because the person whose shoulders bear the responsibility for the vision is afraid of "lack".
Too many Christians are afraid to make a single move until ALL the resources are sufficient and ALL the support they will EVER need is securely in place. Instead of following their calling, they allow resources (or lack thereof) to dictate what they are willing and are not willing to try. Instead of drawing confidence from the Mighty God of Abraham, they're clearly looking to draw confidence from a large amount of money, a large number contributors or a lot of materials at their disposal.
Unfortunately, the only way that confidence in resources can be sustained is to have UNLIMITED resources. And it's been proven generation after generation all over the world to be a fact that no one on Earth has unlimited resources. This fact is the basic rule in the study of Economics; and individuals "wants" and desires are potentially unlimited but resources will always be limited. This has been taught from High School up to University campuses for decades.
Every living creature will face "lack". At some point in your life, there will not be enough of what you need to do what you want or need. The thing that should separate Christians from the rest of the world, however, is knowing how to respond to "lack".
The bible records that Jesus knew this situation would arise and was merely interested in his disciple's response before he revealed his own. Naturally, the disciples were judging the situation according to sight; it LOOKED like this crowd would starve so they immediately abandoned all hope. But here is how Jesus responded to "lack":
#1. He did not send any one away. Instead he instructed the disciples to bring him what they had.
#2. He offered what little they had to God.
"Jesus said, 'Have the people sit down'... (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and (miraculously) distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish" John 6:10-11
That is the correct response to the situation of "lack". If you look into your hands and what you see does not appear to be enough, you must offer God whatever He has given you, no matter how insufficient it appears to be. When you don't have enough, it is critically important that you offer God what you have with all your heart. Why? Because what's in your hand is not your harvest, it's your SEED!
The seed always comes before the harvest; but the harvest will always be larger and greater than the seed. So many people make the mistake of disposing of the seed because it is so small; but an entire forest can be birthed out of the smallest of seeds. Your job is to plant your seed into anointed ground in order to receive your harvest.
In this story, the disciples obeyed the instructions Jesus gave. They took the little bit of food they were provided and put it into the anointed hands of Jesus Christ. Suddenly their worries and fear was laid to rest as food miraculously appeared; enough to feed every man, woman and child which was estimated at more than 5,000 families. They ended up with more than they could have hoped for on that day.
We must learn how to recognize this situation and respond the way Jesus responded. If what you have is not enough, then offer that little bit to God. If you only have $100 but have debt in thousands, then that $100 is the seed from which your debt freedom will be birthed. If you only have 10 people to help you do a job which calls for two dozen, then you 10 are the seed from which the dozens will come to complete the work that the few of you have begun. If you have only five people, then the five of you are the seed. And if all you have is YOU, offer God YOU! By offering God a seed of faith, you've obligated Him to keep his word and multiply your seed into an abundant harvest of more than you could have asked for.
Learn to embrace the situation of "lack" as an opportunity to trust God and wait for Him to provide a blessing. Don't retreat ever again when you recognize that you won't have enough to go on; because God arranges those situations on purpose and has also already arranged a miracle to resolve the issue and lay your worries and fears to rest.
I'll admit... proceeding without resources is indeed frightening. You face the risk failure; you face the risk of embarrassment; you face the risk of letting down people who believe in the vision... But there is no other way that God can show Himself strong to you. There is no other way that He can prove His faithfulness to you and to the vision He gave. God IS faithful and His mercies WILL endure forever. Facing "lack" head-on is the only way you will build confidence in the Great and Almighty Jehovah God.
When there is not enough, offer God what you have and stand on His word that there will soon be more than enough! Defy the frightening situation "lack" and come out victorious and abundantly blessed with more than you could have hoped for today!
