“Thankful for Not Enough”
“When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.”
John 6:5-11 KJV
The Apostle Paul told the Thessalonians in 1 Thess. 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Well, it’s really not a problem to obey that command when your provision is adequate and enough. But, the real test of faith comes when you are asked to be thankful for not enough! You’ve worked all week long and get your check on Friday. But, when you look at your bills and then look at your check; you discover you don’t have enough! At the end of the month, you have more month than money, but can you still be thankful for not enough?
Well, it seems that Jesus and the disciples were faced with a similar situation in the text. Jesus and the disciples were attempting to find some time alone, but the when the crowd saw them, they followed them and would not leave them alone. Mark says that when Jesus saw the crowd, he had compassion on them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd, so he began to teach them many things. However, it was getting late in the evening and the crowd had been with Jesus all day, so the disciples came to him and said: “Send them away so that they might go and get some food, for the day is far spent and the hour is late and we are here in a lonely place” But Jesus told them: “You give them something to eat!” It is at that point that we see the first “not enough” in the story. First of all, because they have been with Jesus all day, there was not enough time for them to go and buy provisions for themselves. For if they had indeed gone away, by the time they got to the market places, the markets would have been closed! Somebody here knows what it means to not have enough time! But you still need to be thankful for not enough!
Mark says “they said,” but John identifies the spokesman as Philip, who said “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One denarius was a day’s wage; therefore, this would have been about eight months’ wages! Now, the text gives no indication how Philip came up with this particular amount. Perhaps it was the amount of money they had in their treasury, but Philip’s point was: “We don’t have enough money to buy enough bread to adequately feed all these people!” In other words, Philip and the rest of the disciples thought that Jesus was asking them to do that which was impossible! That was the second ‘not enough’ not enough money! Oh! I really don’t have to labor that point: All of us know what it means to have not enough money!
But, while Philip was explaining why it couldn’t be done, Andrew was busy looking for a way it could be done! The Synoptic writers record Jesus as asking them to go and see how many loaves they could find, but only John reveals the source of the provisions. Andrew reports to Jesus: “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?” In other words, “Jesus, we found something; but it’s not enough!” Oh yes! This story is filled with ‘not enough!” There was not enough time for the crowd to go and buy food! There was not enough money for the disciples to buy food to feed the crowd! And the two fish and five barley loaves of bread were not enough food to feed five thousand men, not counting women and children!
Now, when we are faced with ‘not enough’ situations, we must guard our attitudes and dispositions! For, if we are not careful, not enough will cause us to fret and complain! Have you ever met someone who is always complaining about not having enough? What most of these people fail to realize is that part of the reason they don’t have enough is because they are always complaining that they don’t have enough! The Bible says: “A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.” In other words, what we believe and say with conviction on a consistent basis will ultimately find fulfillment in the circumstances of our lives! It’s self-fulfilling prophecy! They never have enough because they believe and consistently speak they will never have enough! If you are one of these people, you need to change your vocabulary and increase your faith! You need to quit speaking about what you don’t have, and start speaking about what you want to have! The Bible says: “Let the weak say: ‘I am strong!” But, the more you grumble and complain; the more you will have to grumble and complain about!
But, Jesus did not complain that the two fish and five barley loaves were not enough! In fact, the Bible says that Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks! That’s the point I really want to drive home today! We’ve got to learn to be thankful, even when we think it’s not enough! You see, sometimes, what we think is not enough, is actually more than enough! What they had was not enough in their hands! But when they placed it in the hands of Jesus; it was more than enough!
I believe the difference was in the thanksgiving! The disciples resented not enough; but Jesus was thankful for not enough! The disciples despised not enough, but Jesus embraced not enough! The disciples saw not enough as a problem, but Jesus saw not enough as an opportunity! You see, often the difference between frustration and fulfillment, between success and failure, between poverty and provision, is in how you respond to your not enough situations! And I don’t care who you are! It doesn’t matter your financial status or social standing; everybody has and everybody will face some not enough situations! But, when you are faced with a not enough situation; what do you do? How do you respond? Do you grumble and complain? Or do you praise and thank God that not enough, is at least, more than nothing!
You see, that’s the key! Life never leaves you with nothing: Life always leaves you with something! But, sometimes the not enough really is enough, it only seems to be not enough because you misunderstand and therefore misappropriate its purpose! Let me show you what I’m talking about! Sometimes, the not enough is not meant to be fruit to be consumed, but rather seed to be planted! The frustration comes about when we eat or consume that which was meant to be planted! The disciples were frustrated by the two fish and five barley loaves of bread because they thought they were not enough for the crowd to consume. Jesus was thankful for the two fish and five barley loaves of bread because he knew he was going to use them as seed to grow a miracle to feed the multitude!
Oh! There are many people who don’t pay their tithes or give offerings unto the Lord because they think, if they do, they will not have enough to pay their bills. They don’t understand, the tithe is a seed! You can’t harvest a crop unless you plant seed! Many of us are suffering today because, instead of planting our seed, we’ve been eating our seed! And when we eat our seed, we never have enough, because the seed is not meant for consumption, the seed is meant for the production of a harvest after it has been planted in the ground!
Yes! Jesus was thankful for not enough! The Bible says Jesus took the loaves and the fish and began to bless and brake them! That’s where the miracle took place; in between the blessing and the breaking! As Jesus blessed and broke, the pieces of bread and fish multiplied. Well, I told you a few minutes ago that it is dangerous to complain, because the more you complain; the more you will have to complain about! Well, the opposite is true also! The more thankful you are; the more you will have to be thankful for! That’s why you ought to live life with an attitude of gratitude!
Well, Jesus took the bread and the fish and blessed and broke the pieces. Then he gave it to the disciples and the disciples gave it to the crowd. As Jesus was thanking, blessing and breaking, the disciples were passing to the multitude and a miracle took place! The bread and the fish began to multiply. Well, I’ll be through in a minute, but I think we ought to notice when the miracle took place! The miracle didn’t take place ‘before’ they needed it; it took place ‘as’ they needed it! Oftentimes, we are tempted to fret and complain about not enough because we don’t see the need being met before the need needs to be met! In other words, we want to wait until we can see something happening before we praise the Lord! But, we’ve got to learn to thank Him in advance! Don’t wait until the battle is over; shout now, for although you can’t see it in the natural; the victory has already been won!
Now, the Bible says: “They all ate and were satisfied!” Before we go, I think we need to know who they all were! We call this; the feeding of the five thousand, but that’s a misnomer. There were quite possibly, well over twenty thousand people who ate and were satisfied, because the five thousand was only the number of men; They didn’t count the women and children!
Well, after they had all eaten and were full, John says that Jesus told the disciples: “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” I’ve got two more things to say and then I’m through! Notice they started out with not enough, but they ended up with more than enough! Somebody needs to know today that sometimes the most important thing is not in how you start, but rather in how you finish! If you are dealing with not enough today; don’t despise your not enough! Just be thankful for your not enough and put it in the hands of Jesus! Because, what is not enough in your hands is more than enough in the hands of Jesus!
Yes! Jesus said: “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost!” When the Lord takes your not enough and turns it into more than enough; you need to be careful how you handle the leftovers! Don’t forget to pick up the pieces! Sometimes, we are faced with a not enough situation this time, only because we were not faithful with the leftovers last time! But I’ve learned how to handle the leftovers! Some people think they are too good for the leftovers, but leftovers are a defense against the future not enough! How you handle the leftovers will determine if you will continually face not enough situations. But if you are faithful with the leftovers, God will always make sure to supply your need, not according to your need, but according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus! Oh! Be not dismayed whatever betide; God will take care of you! Beneath His wings of love abide; God will take care of you! Yes! Through every day, over all the way. He will take care or you! God will take care of you!
