God Uses What's Available

In John 6, Jesus had taken his disciples up into the foothills.  A large crowd followed them to that place.  He knew they would get hungry so he asked what was available and from where? 

Simon Peter brought a small boy who was willing to offer his meager lunch – 5 barley loaves of bread and 2 small fishes. 

Can you imagine the thoughts of the boy?  “My Momma packed this for me.  It’s my usual lunch on a day such as this.  It usually satisfies me.  But I guess I can share it.  It’s not much, but it’s all I have.”

And Jesus accepted it.  “And He gave thanks for what He had.”  That concept struck me yesterday as I taught my Sunday school class.  He “thanked God for what he had.” 

And God took over from there. 

The rest of the story … Jesus and His disciples fed five-thousand men, and a whole passel of women and children. 

And they feasted on what was offered – five loaves of bread – two fish. 

Not much to go on, was it?  And as the old gospel song says, “Little Is Much, When God Is in It.”

Last week a homeless man came into the bank where I work.  He wanted to open an account.  In the highly regulated world of banking, I was unable to help that man.  You see, he only had one piece of ID and government regulations adamantly require two pieces. 

What a dilemma.  What a snafu.  What a conundrum.  A good man with a small amount of money and he needed a safe place to park it.  He was down on his luck.  He lived in a tent in the south part of Seattle.  He was out of a job and a home, and my hands were tied by regulations. 

I made a few phone calls.  No bending of the rules could be allowed. 

I asked if he was on the radar of social services.  There might be food stamps, or perhaps some housing accommodations that could help.

It was all I had to give.  He didn’t ask for a handout.  He didn’t ask for a meal or a place to sleep, or a bathroom in which to clean up. 

He simply wanted to open an account.  And I couldn’t do that.

He thanked me and as he was leaving, he said, “Thank you for trying.  You are a good man with a good and caring heart.”

I’ll probably never see that man again.  He fades in and out of the fabric of the homeless population in Seattle. 

Maybe I gave him hope.  Maybe he saw in me that there are some people in this world who do care, even though I couldn’t meet his need of the moment. 

I did what I could do in the moment. All I had to offer was a caring spirit.  I didn’t quote scripture to him.  I didn’t give him a Gospel tract.  I didn’t invite him to church. 

I simply showed compassion and attempted to help in that moment.  And in Jesus’ name, perhaps that was enough.

I felt like the boy with the fish and bread.  So little to offer to such a great need, but God, if you can use it, it is yours. 

What was at hand that day on that hillside by the Sea of Tiberias wasn’t much.  But God used what was available.

Maybe He wants to use something in your hands today.  Perhaps a kind word, a gentle affirming hand on a shoulder, an act of love.  I know a lady who tends to the flowers and shrubs at our church.  Her name is Penny and she is doing what she can with what is at hand, and God is using her work. 

If you make the offer, God will make the miracle.

Watch this appropriate song - Ordinary People 

Daniebelle Hall - Ordinary People

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