March 31, 2023

When God Chooses to Bless With Plenty

“Jesus said, Have the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So, the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted.”

John 6:10-11 (NASB)

In the 1980’s in U. S. Army service, we ate Army Sea Rations while in field operations in heavy snow-covered terrain. The average field soldier expended about 3500 calories a day. To replace the calories, we ate these rations. All came from the Vietnam War era. Mine were often from 1968-1969. These three daily rations came in small boxes. In those three boxes contained a total of 3600 calories. This was more than enough to fill our stomachs for the day’s duties. We often felt bloated after eating a full box. Surprisingly, the rations were pretty good when heated over a truck engine manifold. We would eat anything to stand next to a warm engine running…

“Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted.” “And having given thanks,” is something which we do today over the prayer for the blessing of our food. Jesus gave thanks to the Father for His provision. “All the Synoptists relate his looking up to heaven and blessing. Perhaps he used the familiar formula, ‘Blessed art thou Jehovah our God, King of the world, who causes to come forth bread from the earth.’”[1] After giving thanks, Matthew, Mark, and Luke record that the Lord distributed the food to the crowd through the disciples. Jesus really wouldn’t need them though. He could do it by divine power if He chose to do so. Instead, He used His disciples to begin the ministry to those around them. These people would later come to know them as the Lord’s disciples. They would come to associate them with the Lord God of Heaven who gives to all. “He distributed to those who were seated; likewise, also of the fish as much as they wanted.” “As they wanted.” To understand this term, we need to define, “wanted.” The word thelō; means to will, or wish, desire, pleasing, wished.[2] These who took of the food were able to take from the disciples’ hands as much as they wished or desired. There was no restriction to the limit. Instead of sampling small portions of food, there was more than enough for each to take what they wanted. Imagine as the disciples handed the food to each person, more appearing every time. Each time something was received, it renewed! All this was possible by Jesus who gave thanks to His Father for the provision.

Today, many of us have told ourselves the Lord only supplies what we need each day. I beg to differ. In this passage, the Lord allowed “as much as they wanted,” not in a gluttonous way, but filling. It is at these times He uses this filling to allow each of us to sit, recline back, and concentrate on what He has to say. When He shares His Words of Life to each, we need to be thankful for the blessing He has given. Make a point today to acknowledge Him and the provision He supplies to us today. This miracle is one of hundreds that our Lord has performed in just our lifetimes, so we should thank Him for His blessings each day.

[1] Marvin Richardson Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 2 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1887), 145.

[2] Robert L. Thomas, New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries : Updated Edition (Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc., 1998).