How many loaves do you have?

Matthew 15:34

In this passage Jesus feeds the crowd of 4000 men plus women and children, my guess around 9500 people.  One chapter before (Matthew 14:13-21) Jesus fed a crowd of 5000 men plus women and children, my guess 11000 people, with two fish and five loaves. That is close to 21 thousand fed people with 12 loaves and a few small fishes, not bad, not bad at all. Oh yeah, and they were all satisfied!!!

It is interesting that the disciples asked the question “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place to fill such a crowd?” (v.33). My first thought was, are you kidding me, are you really asking that question? Didn’t you just experience Jesus feed a larger crowd days before? I wonder if they were actually worried or if they were simply asking in excitement of seeing Jesus provide once again? Then we read in chapter 16:5-7 “We didn’t bring any bread.” Why were they still concern about it? I’m not sure of their intention, I see myself in them, but we can definitely learn from this experience about God and ourselves the following:

1.      God is a compassionate God.

a.       “As He stepped ashore, He saw a huge crowd, felt compassion for them, and heal their sick” (Mat. 14:14).

b.      “I have compassion on the crowds, because they’ve already stayed with Me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry; otherwise they might collapse on the way” (Mat. 15:32).

c.       We serve a God that understands our pains and needs.

2.       God is faithful.

a.       Where He leads, He provides.

b.      He draws the crowds to hear the good news, and to heal them. He provided not only for their spiritual needs, but also their physical needs as well. “What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?...If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, HOW MUCH MORE will your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ASK Him” (Mat. 7:9,11).

c.       This is a great example of why Jesus encourage us to “not worry saying, What shall we eat? Or What shall we drink? Or What shall we wear?...your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all” (Matthew 6:31-32).

3.       God is a gracious God.

a.       He asks us to give from what we do have and not from what we don’t have. Plus, what we have He provides and multiplies.

b.      He asks “how many loaves do you have” (v.34) and says “Bring them here to Me” (Mat. 14:18).

c.       That last passage indicates action on our behalf. God can’t use what we don’t freely give back to Him. Also, we are to “bring” to Him, to present ourselves at the altar of the sovereign God and enjoy His presence.

d.      The act of bringing to Him goes far beyond the bringing part, but it’s mainly about the being in His presence. We are called to abide IN Him.

4.       God is our provider—Jehovah-Jired

a.       “Everyone ate and was filled” (Mat. 14:20)

b.      “They all ate and were filled” (Mat. 15:37)

c.       His food, His provision satisfies. There is a lot of trash out there that doesn’t fill you up, but God’s provision will always satisfy your hunger.

d.      The living water that never runs out, and always satisfies (John 4:1-42)

5.      Location matters:

a.       Consider the location and situation of the people. Both passages expressed they were in the wilderness, “a desolate and dry place. But God teaches us that it is at those places that He specially provides. He shows us that He is the provider, therefore being in the wilderness, the dessert, is not an issue when we walk with Him.

b.      Our faith is not to be based on our circumstances, but on our provider.

c.       “The presence of Christ and his gospel makes a desert place not only tolerable, but desirable; it makes the wilderness an Eden, Isa. 51:3; 41:19, 20” (Matthew Henry Commentary).

"AND THEY WERE ALL FILLED/SATISFIED" V.20

PARENTHOOD WISDOM FROM 1 SAMUEL 1-2

Children are a blessing from God and they belong to Him. Whatever He pleases to do with them is His call and not ours. We are not owners of anything in this world; we are stewards of everything including our children. The Lord blessed us with Nehemiah for as long as He pleases and our role is to raise Him with the Gospel in hand and hold tight to the promises God gives us through His word. And it is a process of faith as we trust that He is in control and that He has a plan for him—a plan to prosper him, to give him a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).

1 Samuel 1:27 I prayed for this boy, and since the Lord gave me what I asked Him for, I now give the boy to the Lord. For as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord. Then He bowed and worshipped the Lord there

God is also a jealous God and every time we placed something/one ahead or above Him He is not pleased. We are not to place our children above God and worry about honoring them instead of God. God in his scripture says “I’ll honor those who honor Me.” And in reality, who can do a better work in raising my kid, me or God? I’ll put my trust in Him.

2 Samuel 2:29-30 …You have honored your sons more than Me, by making yourselves fat with the best part of all the offerings of My people Israel…I’ll honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disgraced.

Parents can’t afford to avoid restraining their children when necessary. In the verse above, Eli’s sons, who were entrusted with the Temple’s sacrifices, where desecrating the Lord’s offering from His people. They were literally taking the best out of the offering for themselves, something that didn’t please the Lord. And that wasn’t all, they were also sleeping around with women at the entrance to the tent of meeting. In short, they were not honoring the Lord as they were supposed to, but themselves instead. And the saddest part of the story is that Eli, their father, the one who was entrusted with his children didn’t do anything about out despite knowing the reality of their acts.

V. 22 Now Eli…heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel…

1 Samuel 3:13 I (God) told him that I am going to judge his family forever because of the iniquity he knows about: his sons are defiling the sanctuary, and he has not stopped them (he did not restrain them ESV).

As parents of Nehemiah we are responsible to raise him with the Gospel, with God’s ordinances, and to restrain him when necessary. As precious creations from God we cannot afford to do nothing as Eli, the consequences are vast and affect not only our family but the world (see Ch 2:27-36).

My prayer is that we honor God in our relationships with our children, keeping Him as a priority and trusting in Him as He guides us to raise our children with the Gospel, loving them and restraining them when necessary. May His will and not our will be done with all His children.

YOUR PROVIDER, YOUR PROVISION-LUKE 9:1-17

In commissioning the twelve disciples Jesus told them, “Take nothing for the road, no walking stick, no traveling bag, no bread, no money; and don’t take an extra shirt” v. 3. If you are new to the Gospels you might think Jesus was an insensitive, cruel leader. But if you explore all of Scripture you come to understand that Jesus is teaching them, and us, that He is not only our provider, but He is also our provision.


Jesus is a sovereign and gracious God. After sharing that to His disciples, He goes even farther and gives them an example of His provision. In verse 10 we read about the feeding of the five thousand men, plus the women and children. In this situation thousands of people are following Jesus and His disciples into the wilderness to hear Jesus’ preaching and to be healed of diseases. After a long day the disciples became concerned and asked Jesus to send the people back so that they can go and find something to eat (v.12). To what Jesus responded, “You give them something to eat” (v.13). Jesus is telling them why should I send them away to find something to eat when they have already found, when they are already in the presence of their provider, their provision?

If you know the story, Jesus fed 5000 men, plus women and children with five loaves and two fish. He TOOK the five loaves and the two fish and LOOKING up to heaven, He BLESSED and BROKE them (v.16). And it doesn’t stop there, the Bible teaches us that that everyone ate and were filled, satisfied. And not only that, but they picked up 12 baskets of leftovers!

Throughout this experience the name of the Lord Jesus Christ was not only glorified, but in His grace He gave a picture to His disciples of what He is going to do for them. Of how He is going to provide and be their provision, an abundant provision, as He call them to go and preach the Gospel and leave everything behind taking no bag, no money, no food, no shirt. Jesus is saying, the message you carry is so important that you do not have time to pack your bags, you need to go immediately. But He is also sharing that the only way you can go and preach this message is by totally abandoning yourselves to the cause, therefore taking nothing. And take nothing because you serve the One who is everything, who created everything and He will be your provider, and more than that, He will be the provision at all times.

Jesus is not only asking us to deny ourselves, but to take up our cross daily and follow Him. He modeled that for us, He denied His nature as God and humbled Himself and became a servant for all of us. He took up the cross daily, and went beyond to fulfill His Father’s will and gave up His life on that Cross. He followed the will of His Father above all. He was God in the nature of men; He felt the pain, the anguish, so that we can have the hope that we can do all things through Him who strengthens us. We can do it all because He already did it for us; all we have to do is follow the model, Jesus Christ.

Will I today take up my cross and deny myself and follow Him? And not waste time in worrying about the needs for the road. Why? Because we serve the one that created the road, we serve the one that fed 5000 men plus women and children, not only once, but twice with two fish and five loaves. We serve the one who gave it all so that we can have life, a new life in Christ.

So go and enjoy of His presence, enjoy of His provision, His abundant provision.

…And they were satisfied


Enjoy His Grace, Extend His Glory,