But He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” And He ordered them all to recline by groups on the green grass. They reclined in groups of hundreds and fifties. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He gave them to the disciples again and again to set before them; and He divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied.

Maybe you’ve seen something happen and thought, “That just doesn’t add up.” This is more than a simple calculation; we are assessing the situations and looking for what makes sense to us given what we can see and understand. When we read a passage like this, it is hard to picture the multiplication that took place Jesus’s hands as He broke the loves and divided the fish to feed to the crowd. From an earthly mindset, five loaves plus two fish don’t add up to enough food for a crowd.

But in the heart of this passage, one simple factor reminds us why this math, as miraculous as it was, makes perfect sense: these five loaves and two fish weren’t in the hands of just any person in the crowd; they were in the hands of Jesus, the Son of God, Immanuel—God with us. In His hands, the abundance makes sense, and the equation becomes clearer.

Colossians 1:15-17 says this about Jesus: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” This is the factor we don’t typically account for in our problems and struggles. We look at our problems and don’t see a path forward. We see the chaos of our world and feel defeated and overwhelmed. Yet there is more to the equation than just the visible factors. As Christ followers we have the hope of God Himself in every situation. We have the hope of His redemption and expertise in making much out of the little we have to give and making broken things beautiful. Let’s bring to Him what we have and trust Him complete these problems that feel impossible to us.

• What problems are making you anxious right now?
• What would it look like to entrust your problems into the hands of God? What makes that difficult?
• Pray and lift all your anxieties to the Lord and ask Him to redeem like He always has.