Lessons learned from the feeding of the 5,000 531-1 - 7 - 6

The feeding of the 5000 men and their families wasn’t the only time God miraculously feed numerous people.

Exodus 16:15, “And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.”

Elijah journeyed to Zarephath and met a Gentile widow whom he asked to feed him. The woman had only enough meal for her son and herself. Nevertheless, Elijah ordered her to make a small cake for him first, in effect, giving God and man of God, Elijah the first place. She obeyed and her bin of flour and jar of oil never were empty.

In the times of the Kings, Elisha fed one hundred men with twenty small, round, flat loaves of barley bread and some fresh ears of grain. [2 Kings 4:42-44]

The feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle of Jesus which is recorded in all four Gospels. Luke 9:16-17, “16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude. 17 And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.”

There also was the feeding of the 4000. Matthew 15:36-37, “36 And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. 37 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full.”

What did I learn from the feeding of the 5000? Full disclosure, I’m something of a prepper. I have about a six-month supply of long term storage food. Not nearly as satisfying as a freshly grilled steak but will provide nourishment.

That said, the greatest preparation is trusting in the will of God. Jesus is the bread of life, far greater that satisfying the flesh. Matthew 6:25, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”