Then He took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to Heaven, He blessed them and brake, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. Luke 9:16
One of Doug MacLeod’s favourite quotations was ‘Little is much when God is in it’. The quotation comes from a hymn written by Kittie Louise Suffield. Its chorus goes like this: ‘Little is much when God is in it. Labour not for wealth and fame. There’s a crown and you can win it, If you go in Jesus Name.’ Mrs. Suffield holds an interesting place in history in addition to her hymn writing (she also wrote the well-known hymn God is Still on the Throne and many others). It was through her husband Fred’s preaching that the well-known singer George Beverly Shea was saved. Later, Mrs. Suffield was playing the piano when Shea sang his first public solo, and it was she who encouraged him to continue singing when he felt he had made a mess of the performance and vowed never to sing in public again. Had it not been for Kittie Suffield, we might never have known the wonderful singing of one of God’s greatest baritones. She might say she didn’t do much. But like her hymn says, a little bit goes a long way when it is done for the Lord.
In the case of our text, it was not the size of the lad’s lunch that mattered; it was the size of the One into whose hands the lunch was placed. Of all the miracles that the Lord Jesus performed, this was the one that directly affected the most people. Possibly ten thousand people or more had everything they could eat for supper. The size of the leftover pile assures us that nobody went away hungry. All because the Lord Jesus took the five loaves and two fishes, and broke them into the disciples’ baskets for distribution. We can credit the donor for his generosity. Not only had the lad given his lunch to the Lord, but he had brought enough food to share with one or two people. Even if the loaves were mere buns, five of them, plus the fish, were more than he could eat at a meal. So he was undoubtedly going to share his lunch anyway. How it must have thrilled him to see how many he was able to share it with! If you and I are willing to share what God has given to us, we might enjoy a similar thrill.
The menu that day might seem pretty bland to us. But it was standard fare for most of those people; few of them would have complained in the least. And coming from the hands of the Lord Jesus, the bread and fish would have been fresh and nourishing and tasty. Those people would thoroughly enjoy that meal, and they would have had a fascinating story to tell their families, a story with some ten thousand witness to verify. All because someone placed what he had into the hands of Jesus Christ.
What could He do with what we will offer Him? – Jim MacIntosh