OUT OF THE NATURAL INTO THE SUPERNATURAL

I love the story that is told in Mark 6:30-43. Jesus had sent the twelve disciples out in ministry in teams of two, telling them to keep the message simple, sincere and uncluttered.

The disciples returned from their time of ministry full of exciting testimonies of what had happened and Jesus tried to take them to a quiet place for rest. But the crowds followed them and no one had a chance to rest or even to eat.

When Jesus saw that the crowd was not going away, Mark 6:34 says, “He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things."

As the day was coming to a close, the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This is a remote place and it’s late in the day. We need to send these people away so they can go and buy themselves some food” (see verses 35-36).

The outburst of the disciples is the very human response to what is perceived as an unsolvable problem. The size of the crowd was 5000 men and that didn’t include the women and the children, so it’s conservative to say that the crowd could have numbered 8,000 to 10,000. The disciples knew they didn’t have what would be needed to feed this crowd, nor could they quickly lay hold of that much food. So the only answer, to them, was to send the people away to fend for themselves.

The disciples were absolutely thunderstruck by what Jesus then said to them: “You give them something to eat” (verse 37).

The disciples looked at Jesus unbelievingly and answered, “Should we spend two hundred days’ worth of wages and buy bread?” They seemed to be saying, “We can’t buy enough bread for this crowd; it’s too big, so please just send them away.” Honestly now, isn’t that what we do sometimes with the Lord when the problems of life are crushing in on us and there seems to be no way out? “Please, Lord, please just take this away . . . make it go away!”

Jesus had just said to the disciples, “You give them something to eat,” and then He said, “How many loaves of bread do you have? Go and see” (see verse 38).

The disciples obeyed Him and found that all the available food was five little loaves and two small fish (verse 38).

Verse thirty-eight may seem like one of those that is just there to make the story flow well but it’s more, much more than that. Because the disciples were obedient to the Lord’s instruction, the whole incident now steps out of the natural and into the supernatural. What we are about to read is one of the more startling and understated miracles of the New Testament.

Jesus took the available resources and confronted the unsolvable problem with what the disciples brought to Him. First, He lifted the meager amount of food to heaven in prayer and blessed it; then He divided the loaves and fishes among the disciples for them to begin giving to the people.

Can you imagine the trepidation that must have been evident among the disciples? I can hear Peter saying to Andrew, “This could get ugly, real fast. He had us sit them down like we’re going to feed them but you and I don’t have one complete loaf between us. Yes, this could get bad . . . real bad.”

But they did as He asked them to. They went to the first person and gave him some bread and a portion of fish, and then they went to another and did the same. As they got to the third person, each of the disciples had to know that something very special was beginning to happen because there was still bread and fish in their baskets. Suddenly they realized that their obedience to do what He said had caused them to step out of the natural and into the supernatural supply of heaven.

This is an important story that is related in each of the four gospels. I’ve said many times over the years that God does not stutter and when He causes a story, or a phrase or a truth, to be repeated, He does so because He wants to make sure we get the point (see Matthew 14;13-21; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-13).

Not only did everyone in that great crowd eat but verse 43 says that the disciples took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces of bread and fishes. Jesus provided more than enough to meet the need! “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).

When we are confronted with the seemingly impossible, we are to be obedient and follow Him! Our obedience in faith becomes the “five loaves and two fishes” which He will bless, and our obedience will be our path from the natural into the supernatural. We will get through what had seemed to be impossible to overcome because we gave Him our obedience!

It took the disciples a while to feed that large crowd but they did it. The answer to the impossible may take time but it will come. “For you have need of endurance (patience), so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:36).