24.148 | HOW CAN ONE FEED THESE PEOPLE WITH BREAD HERE IN THIS DESOLATE PLACE? | Mark 8:1-10 |

God’s Word for Today 20 June, 2024 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” 4 And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” 5 And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” 6 And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8 And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10 And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha. -Mark 8:1-10 ESV HOW CAN ONE FEED THESE PEOPLE WITH BREAD HERE IN THIS DESOLATE PLACE? Again, a great crowd of about 4,000 people had been with Jesus and His team for three days in a desolate place. And, they have nothing to eat. They were captivated by Jesus – in His teachings and work. Jesus saw them with compassion. He called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” [v.2,3] Definitely, Jesus had set the stage for them to trust Him that He is in control. He was not going to feed the crowd only but to foster the faith of His disciples also. He was hitting two birds with one stone. However, they said, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” Have they forgotten how Jesus fed the 5,000 men crowd [without counting the women and children] a few months earlier? Is Jesus able to perform the same miracle? Like the disciples, we do doubt, don’t we? We do argue that no two lightnings hit the same object twice, don’t we? This miracle of feeding the crowd was not different in many respects from the previous one. He fed the crowd with 7 loaves and a few fishes. I just wondered if a few from the crowd knew the miracle he did previously. This was a different crowd. Jesus fed everyone plus seven baskets left over. Again, Jesus has demonstrated that He can provide more than our needs. The prophet Jeremiah has declared, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ [Jer 33:3] Today, we should trust that Jesus is our great provider even in our ‘desolate’ circumstances. He is neither advanced nor late. We can rest in Him. At a hind sight, we could see that everything is beautiful in His time and terms. Since Jesus is faithful, He would continue to do what He has done yesterday. He remains faithful. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.[Heb 13:8] Listen and FOLLOW us on our podcast Spotify: http://bit.ly/glccfil_spotify Apple Podcast: http://bit.ly/glccfil-applepcast Google Podcast: http://bit.ly/glccfil-googlepcast Audible Podcast: http://bit.ly/glccfil-audible Follow us on various media platforms: https://gospellightfilipino.contactin.bio #gospellightfilipino #godswordfortoday #bookofMark