How much more do we need?

“You don’t need more; You need God to bless what you already have”
Priscilla Shirer

The passage that the preacher above was referring to in her sermon was Jesus’ feeding of the thousands by miraculously multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish that a boy had brought to Him.
I thought that it’s quite a refreshing and enlightening way of seeing God’s provision.

Of course, in order for the thousands to be fed, the number of loaves of bread and fish had to be increased and multiplied. In that sense, more was needed, in order to meet the needs of the hungry crowds.

I think of the different circumstances we all need more of; for example, more time to get our work done, more time to spend with family; more finances for our expenses, more wisdom and knowledge to deal with delicate situations, and so on. And it’s definitely scriptural to pray specifically, for more of what we need.

At the same time, I am also reminded of how the Bible described the way Jesus prayed, in that He “gave thanks”. Perhaps Jesus did ask specifically for the bread and fish to be multiplied; perhaps He did ask for more fish and bread.

What this sharing by the preacher got me thinking about was the need for us to focus on trusting that God is in control.

When the going gets tough, it’s quite easy to think or question if God has provided sufficiently for us. Or we might doubt God’s goodness, because what we see in the obvious situation before us, is the lack, the insufficiency.

Maybe there are times when God wants us to focus on giving thanks, that the miracle He will do is already in what He has provided. What we need to do is to ask Him to bless what we already have.

Maybe it’s about learning to see that the so-called ‘bare bones’ we have are miracles, waiting to be sprung, if only we would take our eyes off what we can see, and focus on the One who has given them to us.

If only we would be more focused on being thankful & ask Him to bless what He has already given us.

It is easy for any of us, when we are focused only on asking for more, to become bothered, upset or bitter because what is obvious to us is that there will never be enough.

Perhaps, if we tried to see that what we have are miracles waiting to happen. When we commit them to God and ask Him to bless them, then we may receive a joy and a confidence because our focus is on the Giver, rather than the gifts.

More grace & power to us all.

Terrence Leong

Shalom 🙏