M-W-F Bible study John 6:8-13 "they ate all they wanted"

John 6:8-13 (The Message)

8 One of the disciples - it was Andrew, brother to Simon Peter - said, 9 "There's a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But that's a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this." 10Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." There was a nice carpet of green grass in this place. They sat down, about five thousand of them. 11 Then Jesus took the bread and, having given thanks, gave it to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish. All ate as much as they wanted. 12 When the people had eaten their fill, he said to his disciples, "Gather the leftovers so nothing is wasted." 13 They went to work and filled twelve large baskets with leftovers from the five barley loaves.

(commentary by Marion Adams from www.easyenglishinfo/bible-commentary)

Verses 8-13 But then a young boy gave what he had: his own lunch. But Andrew, like Philip, still could not understand what was possible for God to do.

Probably the *disciples had money with them, to buy food as they travelled. But because their money was not enough, they did not even offer it. However, this boy had much less than they had. In fact, he was probably poor. Only poor people cooked with *barley, which was usually food for animals. But still the boy offered what he had to Jesus.

Jesus took it and a *miracle happened. He thanked God for it. Then Jesus passed it to the crowd. Everyone there had enough to eat.

We can learn from this boy. Our resources are our time, our money and our possessions. Also we have the skills that God has given to us. We may not think that we have much to offer to God. But it is better to offer to him something rather than nothing. He will take whatever we offer to him. And he will do great things with it on behalf of his *kingdom.

After the meal, there was a lot of food that the people had left. We can learn from this, too. We can offer ourselves and our resources to God. Then he will do so much more than we can imagine.

Have you ever offered something small to God and seen Him do great things with it? Has God blessed you abundantly, above and beyond what you would expect?