There were thousands of them – they were everywhere. How could so many people hear about where he was? He was trying to get away from the crowds and now they had discovered him here.
The people were hungry for more of what he had to tell them. So he took the time to speak to them. He took so much time to speak to them that it was approaching dinner time. They were now hungry for a meal, and they were not going anywhere.
The disciples knew they wanted something to eat. They also knew that they did not have the resources to feed thousands of people. Hey, if a handful of them wanted to stay behind and join them for dinner that’s one thing. But there is no way on earth they could feed thousands of people – what a preposterous notion! The disciples said to Jesus that he should send them away to go get some dinner.
And then Jesus did it again. He did what he had a habit of doing. He pushed them a little deeper into faith. He encouraged them to step out of their comfort zone and into the faith zone. He was thrusting them into the purposes of God. He was throwing them in the deep end…
“You feed them.”, he said matter-of-factly.
Ha, ha, ha – that’s funny Jesus. But Jesus isn’t laughing. He is still looking at them with that same, “I see something that you don’t and want to help you see it too” kind of look on his face.
Are you nuts? There has got to be close to 10,000 people here. 5,000 men plus women and children – there is probably way more than 10,000. We checked the cash box and we don’t really have $80,000 to go buy lunch. And even if we did, how on earth could we logistically make it all happen?
But Jesus isn’t budging.
It seems there was a boy who overheard this conversation and thought he’d jump in,
“Hey, I got 5 loaves and two fish.” , he declares.
Ahhh yes, now we have some faith. The boy showed up, he brought his lunch, and he shared his lunch – that’s all Jesus needed. Now watch what God can do.
God can, and that changes everything!
Jesus was about to school the disciples, and us as well, in the principle of shifting from “eyesight to insight”. To walk with Jesus in the adventure into which he is inviting us, we cannot look solely with our physical eyesight – we need spiritual insight. We must see things from God’s perspective.
We need wisdom and revelation. We must see the visible and the invisible. We must live in the now and not yet. We must believe the impossible is possible for an all-powerful God.
This is shifting from eyesight to insight.
As you know, Jesus fed those thousands of people with 12 baskets of leftovers. He multiplied the 5 loaves and 2 fish into thousands, and had far more left over than they started with. That’s just a blow-your-mind kind of miracle when you stop and think through the details of what happened that day.
Jesus was saying loud and clear, “God can, and that changes everything!”
No matter what overwhelming situation you are facing – God can, and that changes everything! No matter how little you think you have that cannot make any sort of difference – God can, and that changes everything! No matter how much you think you are short, that you don’t have what it takes to do what needs to be done – God can, and that changes everything!
To walk wholeheartedly with Jesus into the epic adventure of God’s kingdom coming and his will being done in and through us, we must shift from eyesight to insight. We must see through the eyes of faith. We must see things from God’s perspective.
God is able to do far more than we can ever ask or imagine. We must ask Him to open the eyes of our heart to see differently – through the eyes of faith.
We must be able to shift from eyesight to insight.
Ephesians 3:20
“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work in us.”
Ephesians 1:17-19
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.”
Philippians 4:13
“I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”