After crossing over the Sea of Galilee, a great multitude begin to follow Jesus. Jesus looks at Philip and ask’s the question, “Whence shall we buy bread, that theses may eat?” The Bible says that Jesus done this to Philip, to test him, “for he himself knew what He would do.” My response would probably have been a lot like Philip’s, we don’t have enough. Not enough money, not enough food, not enough period.

Looking at this story as it is recorded in the book of John, we see a couple of things that I feel is important. A question is asked, by Jesus to the disciples, that Jesus already, had the answer to. (I love the way Jesus would open up conversations, as an opportunity to teach others). Where shall we buy bread?  Jesus includes Philip and Himself in the question when He addresses the need at hand. We see needs all around us every day and sometimes, it’s with people, friends and family that’s close to us. It is at these times, like Philip we begin to tell ourselves, what I have is not enough. The question that Jesus asked was “Whence shall we.”

Many times, in the Bible, God took the little and made a lot. God used Elijah in 1 Kings 17:8 to multiply the meal for the widow at Zarephath during a famine. God used Elisha to multiply the pot of oil that it be sold to pay her debt and keep her sons from slavery. God increased Jacobs flocks and herds supernaturally in Genesis 30. In each example, God took what the person had (the little things) and multiplied it. There wasn’t anything special about the product, God used to do the miracle, it was God using what man had present.

In John 6:8 we see in this section of scripture, that Andrew has found a lad that had five loves and two fishes. I wonder if the little boy’s mom knew that, when she packed his lunch that morning that God would use it to feed over five thousand people that day. Man had a little, Jesus took the little and blessed it (v11) and gave it back to man. When we take our little and give it to the master, He can bless it and multiply it and do things that we are not capable of. Sometimes it’s a barrel of meal or a pot of oil, our time, our talent or our resources. But, when it is put in Gods hands, He takes the natural and makes the supernatural.

The next time you see a need, that you feel is too big for you to do, ask God to take what little you may have and bless it, that it may be multiplied and used for His glory. Remember, God took the little bit of dirt and made you!