Monday, November 21, 2005
John 6:8-11 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?" Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them . . . and likewise of the fish.
FROM YOUR MAKER'S HAND . . . WITH LOVE
Can you imagine being among the disciples there that day? Time and again you make your way up the hillside to fill your basket with bread and fish, each time you see the little covered basket there on the ground . . . the lad's original "lunchbox" with its 5 barley biscuits and 2 small fish.
With this miracle Jesus shows Himself to be the very Creator of the world, the very God who sustains what He has made day by day. He also gives us daily bread -- and everything else we need for body and life. This provision is just as much a miracle from His gracious hand as the Feeding of the 5,000.
Where food is concerned the only difference is in the time of preparation, the days of rain and sunshine and the growing plants and the working hands. His is still finally the hand that provides all we have eaten -- all we will eat today -- and when we gather for Thanksgiving. His use of natural means doesn't change that fact, nor does people's failure to thank and praise Him for it.
But just as the ingratitude of so many does not change God's heart toward our world in its need, so also the people who fail to truly celebrate Thanksgiving need not change our giving:
Praise to God, immortal praise,
For the love that crowns our days.
