Opportunity Knocks - Mark 6:37

"But Jesus said, You feed them. With what? they asked. We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!" Before Jesus performed the miracle of feeding the 5,000, He first commanded the disciples to feed them. Now His command could be interpreted in two ways. Either Jesus was commanding the disciples to let Him empower them to perform the miracle or He was trying to teach them a lesson about God's miraculous provision. We usually interpret His command to the disciples in terms of the latter, but let's take the perspective that He was actually commanding them to feed the 5,000. This being the case, they clearly failed to obey His command. So why did they fail to perform the miracle? Because they viewed the situation as a personal problem not a divine opportunity. Their immediate response to Jesus's command was to explain the way they would do it--"work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people"--which, obviously, was not a viable solution to the immediate situation. Don't we often take the same approach to life--as though it is full of problems to overcome rather than miracles to be performed! What if the disciples had responded, "Absolutely Lord, with your help we can do anything for your glory!" and allowed Jesus to empower them to feed the 5,000. Think about it. Is your life full of personal problems or divine opportunities? "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13).