They picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces of bread, and of the fish. There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.
In our world anxiety is an all-too-common struggle. People wrestle with it for different reasons and in different ways, but it all has the same root: fear. We are scared that what we have will not be enough. We worry about what could happen in our world. We stay up at night imagining different worst-case scenarios that shake us to our core. Those worries are overwhelming and all consuming. They remind us how big the world is and how out of control of it we really are. We start to feel small in our problems, and we either overcompensate to make ourselves feel more in control or become paralyzed by the what-ifs that run through our minds.
In those places of fear and anxiety, Christ can provide so much hope. Out of scarcity, He brought abundance. Out of a problem, He brought a miracle. Our God is the Redeemer and Reconciler of all things. He is not a God of band aids and quick fixes, He is a God of reconstruction and redesign, making broken and hopeless things beautiful. God’s provision was plentiful for the people in the passage, and He is still in the business of plentiful work when we come to Him for our daily bread. When we feel overwhelmed by the fear of not having enough or being too small to solve the world’s problems, we can take a deep breath and relax because our God is bigger, stronger, and more abundant than we can ever imagine.
- What feels more abundant right now: reasons to be afraid or reasons to trust God? Explain.
- How should God being a God of abundance change the way we deal with anxiety?
- Pray and praise God for His abundance.
