About

It might not qualify as a miracle, but it was miraculous to me. I was planning the annual Christmas dinner for the church I pastored in South Carolina, Overbrook Presbyterian Church. It was the tradition for me to make taco salad for the event and plan a few Christmas-themed activities. Most years we had about thirty-five people attend this Wednesday night celebration, but this year over seventy people came. I was both overjoyed that we had such a great turn-out and horrified that I had only planned for half that number. I wanted our guests to feel welcomed. However, nothing says you don’t belong like an empty plate. As we served dinner, I was praying that the Lord would stretch the food that I had prepared so that everyone would have their fill. With each scoop of meat, I was more and more nervous. Despite my fear, though, there was more than enough for everyone. This event may seem a paltry example of the Lord’s provision. However, it was not the stretching of taco salad that was so important in the situation. Rather it was having my eyes opened to the Lord’s care and provision even in the small aspects of my life. It was the experience of God’s grace to provide what I could not. In this week’s passage, we come to the very familiar passage concerning the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. Here, the Lord Jesus does not merely make food stretch but miraculously multiplies a few loaves and fishes to feed a crowd of 5,000. And what we will see in our text is that the Lord provides all that we need so that we might find our satisfaction in him alone. To come prepared for the sermon take time this week to read and to meditate upon Matthew 14:13-21, Deuteronomy 8:3, Psalm 34:8, Isaiah 55:1-2, John 6:35, and James 5:5.