When You Don’t Have Enough Resources

You have likely experienced a situation where your resources were not sufficient for the need.  Whether it was not having enough money to pay a bill, running out of ketchup with three fries left, or not having enough copies of a handout for the audience, you know what it means to come up short.  Well what happens when you don’t have enough resources for the task at hand? 

In Mark 6:30-44 the disciples have returned from a successful mission of preaching and healing.  Jesus invites them to take a break from ministry.  They were going to leave where they had been working to go to a place of retreat.  However, the demand for ministry was so great that people figured out where they were going and beat Jesus and the disciples to the destination.  Jesus feels compassion for the crowd and teaches them. As evening approaches, the disciples petition Jesus to send the crowd away so that everyone can go buy food.  Jesus tells the disciples to give the people something to eat. 

In response to the instruction of Jesus, the disciples highlight their deficiency.  They focus on the fact that they do not have enough money.  There is not enough food.  And in John’s account, we see that they do not have enough faith (John 6:9). 

Sometimes we find ourselves in a deserted place.  The place where we are doesn’t have what we need to sustain us.  God has given us a task, but the task given is greater than the resources available to us.  We feel ill-equipped.  We don’t see how what we have is going to get the job done.  Often the one who sees the need is the one God has called to meet the need.  But we often want to outsource the tasks God has given us to do.  When God gives you an opportunity to glorify Him, don’t pass it off to someone else. 

While the disciples are focusing on their deficiency, Jesus is in tune to God’s sufficiency.  Jesus has the disciples to get the people to sit down so they can eat.  In our culture, you don’t call people to the table until the food is ready.  But Jesus tells the disciples to organize the people before the food is multiplied.  God is getting ready to do something, but before He does it, He wants you to be prepared for what He is about to do.  You need to get into a position of expectancy.  Get your heart ready. Get your mind right.  Jesus presents what little He has to God so that God can bless Him with abundance.

Give God your deficiency in your finances, parenting, as a spouse, as a single, employee, supervisor, member of the body of Christ, leader.  Present your deficiency to God and watch God bless your deficiency with His sufficiency.  Jesus prayed a prayer for God to do the impossible, knowing that with God, all things are possible.  When God finishes touching your deficiency with His sufficiency, the result will be abundance.  God’s abundance is not about blessing you for the sake of blessing you.  It is about blessing you so that your abundance can be a blessing to others.