(This first published on October 3, 2019)
What if your greatest need, your greatest challenge, strategically leads to your greatest blessing? What if, in your place of struggle, of uncertainty, God is chiseling away all that is shaky and false to lay beneath you a sure and steady foundation? What if, when it feels as if everything around you is shattering, God is actually using those broken pieces to create something eternally beautiful and precious?
My mind likes to shoot straight to fear. When our car breaks down, or our daughter struggles, or maybe someone I love experiences a health challenge, I’m tempted to forget. To forget that God is with me, with us. To forget He’s ever present, certain and true. That His love is big enough to cover every need and hurt. But most of all, I’m tempted to forget that He is in my difficulty, using the situation to reveal hidden lies lurking in my heart. Shining His light on what is diseased in order to bring life and light to what’s gone dead.
For years, I felt food insecure. Even with a full pantry and well-funded savings account, financially, everything felt uncertain. I remembered my time wandering the street of Tacoma, of eating potatoes, and lets be honest, large quantities of malt liquor.
My vision from that time was selective, distorted. I remembered the hard more than God’s hand. And so, I lived in fear. Fear that, at any moment, the life I’d created—that I thought I’d created—would unravel.
In essence, I made much of myself and little of God. I placed my husband’s paycheck, or working car, or our checking account in place of my faithful Provider. Yet, in the deepest recesses of my fearful heart, I intuitively knew that none of those things had the power to carry me. But in focusing on all those lesser, powerless, ever-shifting provisions, I forgot who was and always has been holding me.
My focus on the “bread” hindered my view of the “Baker” and this kept me from resting firmly in His embrace.
This was precisely what happened some two thousand years ago, when Jesus and His disciples encountered a large crowd of hungry people. We likely miss the magnitude of this situation as most of us have never truly been food insecure. When we want something to eat, we run to the store or hit the nearest restaurant. But for ancient man, hunger was a real and pressing concern.
And so, seeing their hunger, Jesus said to Philip, one of His disciples, “You feed them.”
To which Philip replied, in essence, “Um, what?”
“Philip answered Him, ‘It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’” (John 6:7, NIV). Peter responded much the same, saying “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” (John 6:8, NIV).
Like I so often do, Philip and Peter allowed their need to blind them from their Provider. In that moment, the need felt huge and their God felt small.
Have you ever been there? I have. And when I land in that place, God doesn’t chastise me or turn away. Instead, He draws me close and says, “What you have is enough, because I, who always am enough, will make it enough.”
That’s precisely how He responded to His disciples. “Jesus said, ‘Have the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish’” (John 6:10-11, NIV).
Did you catch that? Jesus didn’t just give the people a little. He didn’t feed them enough to hold them over until they could find another meal. He gave them each as much as they wanted. He gave them an abundance, because He is the God of abundance, and He wants us to know that He alone, not our jobs or our paychecks, will meet our needs.
God calls us to utilize what we have, not obsess over what we lack. When needs arise, it’s easy to become paralyzed by our lack. But even in our lack, we have hope, because we have Christ. And the same God who used a simple lunch of five loaves and two fish can use our meager resources and feeble strength to perfect all that concerns us.
In fact, sometimes, oftentimes, He will allow us to land in situations that feel hopeless so that we can truly and securely grab hold of the only One who is hope. That is a precious blessing that will never fade or disappoint.
What are you facing today? What might God be showing you through it? In the middle of your struggle, what lies are rising to the surface? That God doesn’t care? That He won’t provide for or protect you? That He’s distant or not listening?
What does truth say?
Share your thoughts, stories, and encouragement with us in the comments below, because we can all learn from and encourage one another!
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