"One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?" [Jn 6:8-9]
When a difficult, perhaps even impossible task, was set before Jonathan, Saul’s son, in faith toward God he said, “it may be that The LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to The LORD to save by many or by few.” [1 Sam 14:6] The word restraint means, “the act or operation of holding back or hindering…limitation; restriction.” [Webster] Whether a man has much strength or little, much wealth or hardly any: no matter what the present circumstances are, there is not one thing which could ever hold God back from action or bind Christ our Lord from working, for as Paul says, “the word of God is not bound.” [2 Tim 2:9] Again, in another place it is written, “LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power.” [2 Ch 14:11] God’s power is so extreme, so beyond our ability even to compare and contrast, that Asa prays truthfully, “LORD, it is nothing with thee to help.” If a man had an hundred thousand soldiers to deploy, millions of dollars to spend, hundreds of hours to spare, or if instead, in great contrast, a man had nothing but a penny and a shoe: in each case the effort level from God would be the same; in each case the percentage of effort and energy it would require from The LORD’s total supply would be a percentage so incredibly low, it is easier to simply say, “nothing.” What a powerful God we have! As it is written, “great is The LORD, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable.” [Psa 145:3]
And truly, God testifies to these facts Himself, saying, “behold, I am The LORD, The God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?” [Jer 32:27] The LORD asked Moses rhetorically, “is The LORD’s hand waxed short?” [Num 11:23] The clear answer as we have seen is no; “The LORD reigneth” and there is no power nor obstacle nor name which He does not or cannot usurp; “He is clothed with majesty; [yes], The LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith He hath girded Himself,” [Psa 93:1] and He needs not any to give Him strength, for He clothes Himself with it and is the source of it, as it is written, “God hath spoken once; twice I have heard this; that power belongeth unto God.” [Psa 62:11]
Having seen a small glimpse of God’s power, let us remember a certain time when having said to His disciples, “come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while,” [Mk 6:31] and having come to the place,
“Jesus, when He came out [of the boat], saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and He began to teach them many things.” [Mk 6:34]
When His disciples, no doubt tired, said to Jesus, “send them away, that they may go…and buy themselves bread,” Jesus said to them, “give ye them to eat.” [Mk 6:36, 37] But, as we see from John, not quite possessing the faith that Jesus’ command was even possible, viewing the situation purely from the flesh, Philip answered Jesus’ question/command, saying, “two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.” [Jn 6:7] He said this because there “were about five thousand men, beside women and children;” [Mt 14:21] surely a great deal more than they could feed on their own with such short notice and with such little funds. Jesus’ disciples looked at the crowd of thousands of people, and looked at Jesus’ command, “give ye them to eat,” and saw a great disparity. The command was far above what they were able. But where the disciples saw only a great gulf of impossibility, The Lord saw a great opportunity to display His glory. And so instead of sending the people away, Jesus said, “how many loaves have ye? Go and see,” [Mk 6:38] to which Andrew reported, “there is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes.” [Jn 6:9] These five barley loaves, the bagged lunch as it were of a small lad: hardly enough to feed over five thousand people. But in the eyes of Christ, it was more than enough: for in Christ all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt; all the power of God was, and is, at His disposal, as John wrote, “God giveth not The Spirit by measure unto Him.” [Jn 3:34]
The next words which Jesus spoke, after hearing of the amount of food, are the most important in the whole account. Jesus said, in reference to the loaves, “bring them hither to me.” [Mt 14:18] Had the disciples, had the lad, not given the food to Christ, it would have remained but “five barley loaves, and two small fishes;” enough to feed a handful of people, but not nearly enough to feed the crowd and fulfil Jesus’ command. But because they submitted what little they had, that which was formerly unable was transformed by Christ’s power into that which was able. Those loaves and fishes became, by Jesus’ power, sufficient for the crowd, for He “took the loaves; and when He had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would;” [Jn 6:11] and as Mark records, “they did all eat, and were filled.” [Mk 6:42] And herein we see the power of Christ and a great application to the truths regarding God’s infinite power. There is no limit to what Jesus can accomplish; though the disciples had but five borrowed loaves, Jesus multiplied them into thousands, more than enough to meet the need set before them. Though the disciples came to Christ with nothing but a lad’s lunch, they left with an over-abundance.
The answer to Andrew’s question, “but what are they among so many,” indeed has an answer: they are perfectly sufficient! Was Christ ignorant of their seeming lack? In no wise, for when Jesus said to Philip, “whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” John tells us, “and this He said to prove him: for He Himself knew what He would do.” [Jn 6:5-6] Our weaknesses, like the disciples, are not a surprise to God nor a hindrance. If The LORD has told us to do something, He is already aware of our lack. But if we cling fast to the promise, “God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work,” [2 Cor 9:8] and again, “in every thing ye are brought to fulness by Him, in all speech, and in all knowledge,” [1 Cor 1:5] and entrust ourselves to Him, then He shall work and empower us for any task He gives.
Let us be encouraged, dear brethren, that whereas we may not have much, yet God would say unto us as He did Gideon, “The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valor.” [Jdg 6:12] Our limitations do not limit Jesus, for His power is always greater than the present need. If He has given us a task, and we submit ourselves and our possessions to Him, it shall be done, for with Jesus nothing is impossible for us. As Jesus said, “with men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” [Mt 19:26] So let us rejoice and submit ourselves to Jesus in faith, nothing doubting, for through Him we can accomplish all things.
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