MY 13
May 13
Matthew 15:32 to end. Christ feeds five thousand with seven loaves.
For three days seated upon a mountain, surrounded by the afflicted and the ignorant, our blessed Lord had manifested his compassion for our fallen race. At the end of that period, he displayed his beneficence by feeding the multitude. He had refused to feed them when they came because of the loaves; but now that they had been gathered together from other motives, he provided for their wants. It is so now. The Lord does not promise to provide for the temporal wants of those who attempt to serve him from interested views, but only for those who seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
Is it not surprising that the disciples should say the second time, "Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?" How soon they had forgotten the five loaves and the five thousand! But can we remember no similar instance of forgetfulness in our own history? Has not the Lord on many occasions in times past gone beyond our highest expectations? And yet are we not prone in every fresh difficulty to doubt his power and his faithfulness? David remembered that God had delivered him out of the paw of the lion and the bear, and therefore he believed that He would deliver him out of the hand of the mighty giant. Whenever we find ourselves placed in difficulties, we should remember the "years of the right-hand of the Most High;" that is, we should remember the events of past years, and the deliverances we have received. How many fears have we entertained! Have they been realized? Has not the Lord been better to us than our fears? and better than our hopes too? The Lord, who fed the multitude, can supply the largest family with bread. The pious parent may trust Him to send provision for all his little ones. The affectionate daughter may feel assured that the Lord will help her to sustain her widowed mother. The weak in health, and declining in years, may confide in the Lord not to leave them to pine neglected and forlorn; for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers.
The Lord is able to supply his perishing creatures with more enduring food than bread. The disciples ought to have known that the bread they distributed signified that flesh which Jesus would give for the life of the world; for they had lately heard their Master discourse upon this subject. The Lord has already raised up many faithful ministers who proclaim to his people the crucified Savior. This was his promise in days of old—"I will give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge, and with understanding," (Jer. 3:15.) If all congregations had the same appetite for the bread of life that this multitude had for common bread, how joyfully would pastors exercise their ministry! But of what congregation can it be said, "They did all eat and were filled?" Too many people have no appetite for the heavenly feast; they sit as God's people sit, but they partake not of the sacred fare—they go away to feed again upon ashes, and at length die without having tasted of that bread, which if a man eat, he shall live forever. But there is a congregation above, in number far exceeding four thousand, or one hundred and forty-four thousand—a multitude that no man can number, who are fed by the Lord himself with heavenly manna. They hunger no more, because the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne feeds them.