I republished Lambchow’s first article a few days ago to mark our 10th anniversary. I’ll admit to doing a little light editing before republishing. But I was also tempted to rewrite the whole thing for style and readability. So I did.
Jesus, the disciples, and a large crowd were in a wilderness far from the cities and villages. If you’ve read the Bible, you may recall what comes next. With five loaves and two fish, Jesus feeds the five thousand. But our focus is on that bit of dialog before the miracle.
Mark reports it this way, “Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.” (Mark 6:34–36, NLT)
It’s refreshing that the disciples didn’t come to Jesus with just a problem but also a solution. It’s getting late; we should send the crowds away to fend for themselves. That is a reasonable and even compassionate piece of wisdom. The problem is that it wasn’t Christ’s wisdom or solution.
We often find ourselves at this crossroads of wisdom. We feel a problem, see a solution, and pray for God to bless it. But what if God has other plans, maybe even miraculous, never-to-be-forgotten plans? That was the point of the original article. Instead of using our own wisdom, we should listen for the wisdom of God’s path forward.
I needed that lesson ten years ago during some time in the wilderness. I need that lesson today as I find myself in the wilderness again. The wilderness times, the dry times, are not times of failure; they are doorways to something wonderful, we just can’t see it yet. If we follow our own wisdom, then we may miss it. But if we allow time to listen to God and follow His path, we will see something wonderful.
But Christ also challenges us with wisdom that seems impossible. “But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!” “How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.” They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.” (Mark 6:37–38, NLT) Notice this! Christ gave them an impossible command but used the little they had to solve the problem.
Over the years, I’ve boiled that thought down to this – do what you can, with what you have, where you are, and trust God for the rest. God may give you an impossible task, but bring to Him what you have and watch what happens next.
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