“Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, He gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it to the people.” Matthew 14:19 NLT

How many times have we read or heard the story of Jesus feeding the 5000? So many, right? But you know God, sometimes He likes to see if we are really paying attention. So today as I read this story, studying my Sunday School lesson, that’s exactly what He did. He has a way of making a verse or even just a few words of verse, kinda dance around on the page. It’s like He is saying, “Look at this, I have something for you right here!” That’s what the Bible is referring to when it says “For the Word of God is alive and active.” (Hebrews 4:12) He takes something we have read repeatedly and helps us see new meaning, new encouragement. He helps us take what we read and actually apply it to our lives, our situations, our circumstances. It’s exciting and what He revealed to me this morning was precisely what I needed. Go figure…

In this story, multitudes of people have been following Jesus, listening to Him teach, seeing Him heal. And as the day comes to a close, the disciples are wanting to send everyone into the towns and villages so they can find food. But Jesus has other plans. The disciples bring Jesus all the food they have, 5 loaves of bread and two fish. Now we all know that’s not gonna go very far, well, unless you’ve got Jesus as your caterer. He takes this food, lifts it toward heaven and blesses it but instead of handing the whole loaves back to the disciples, the Bible says, “He broke it into pieces and gave it to them.” As I read that, the broken pieces of bread is where God wanted me to focus. He spoke in that beautiful way He does when we are intently listening and said “Sometimes, my blessings don’t look like blessings.” You see, the broken pieces of bread didn’t look like much to the disciples. I kinda think they probably looked at it and was like, “Ok, gee thanks for the totally insufficient crumbs, Jesus.” But Jesus knew that they needed the blessing of the broken bread so they would be ready for the miracle that was coming.

Now, application time. The “blessing” God has given me right now is unemployment. It does not look or feel like a blessing at all. In fact, if blessings had a return policy, I’d be taking this one back and asking Jesus for another one. But when I read this verse, the LORD just spoke to my heart and said “Right now, it may look like all you have is broken bread but the miracle is coming.” If you read further into this chapter, Jesus sends the disciples across the lake in a boat. The New Living Translation actually says, “Jesus insisted that His disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side.” (Matthew 14:22) He purposely sent them out there knowing that a storm was brewing. Because He knew they had to be in the middle of the storm before they could experience the miracle of Jesus walking on the water.

So if you are in the same “boat” as me and all you can see is broken bread, be encouraged because the miracle could be just around the corner. God loves to give good gifts to His children but sometimes He has to serve us the brokenness before we are ready for the miraculous.

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19