June 29
The Continual Burnt Offering" W hen He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. So they all ate and were filled."
When God brought His people of old out of Egypt, He sustained them in the wilderness during their forty years’ sojourn, providing bread from Heaven. It was therefore quite in keeping with His character as Jehovah’s Servant that our Lord should minister to the physical needs of men while here on earth. To question the reality of the miracle and to seek to account for it on merely natural grounds is to discount or even deny His divine power and authority. If we accept the truth of the divinity of Christ and acknowledge His true deity, we need not be concerned about explaining the su-pernaturalness of His works. In multiplying the loaves and fish He was but doing in a few moments of time what He is constantly doing in the seas and the grain fields of the world. This miracle was no more difficult for Him than the daily wonder of propagation of vegetable and animal life from infinitesimal seed. When the Creator and Sustainer of this diversified universe walked among men, it was to be expected that mighty works would be demonstrated through Him (see Matthew 14:2). It was in keeping too with His Messiahship that He should satisfy the poor with bread (Psalms 132:15).
I look to Thee in ev’ry need,
And never look in vain;
I feel Thy strong and tender love,
And all is well again;
The thought of Thee is mightier far
Than sin and pain and sorrow are.
Discouraged in the work of life,
Disheartened by its load.
Shamed by its failures or its fears,
I sink beside the road;
But let me only think of Thee,
And then new heart springs up in me.
—Samuel Longfellow