From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Apostles’ Faithless Remedy – Part 2

Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.” One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?” (John 6:7-9)

It seemed pointless to Philip to even discuss where the apostles might have obtained bread. They plainly didn’t have enough cash to buy bread even if they could find it. Philip’s answer emphasized, from his view, the impossibility of the situation and further showed his insufficient faith. He had witnessed other miracles by Jesus — including the changing of water into wine (John 2:1-11) — and would have known of God’s miraculous provisions of food in Old Testament times (Numbers 11:31-32; 1 Kings 17:9-16; 2 Kings 4:1-7). Yet Philip’s mind focused only on the bottom-line considerations of buying enough food to give everyone a little.
Andrew also focused on the human side of the equation, although he was not quite as pessimistic as Philip. Jesus told the apostles to find out how much food the crowd had, and Andrew likely reported their findings. That report simply confirmed the discouraging nature of the situation when it looked toward the little boy with a meager “five barley loaves and two fish.” We can easily summarize Andrews’s faithless response with his own words: “But what are these for so many people?”
Philip and Andrew and the other apostles failed Jesus’ test of faith for them. Not one of them responded by affirming His power to provide the food.

Ask Yourself:
Have you ever experienced a time when you settled for less from God, not stepping back to consider that He might have more to accomplish through you than seemed practical or most obvious? What have been some of the biggest costs from living inside the safe and the known?