On February 27, 2023, I had a massive heart attack. I would later be told in the CCU that the cath lab team had cleared a 100% blockage in the left ventricle artery and a 90% blockage in my diagonal artery. I had received two stents that morning and while they were placing the stents, I went into VFIB…twice. Each time I went into VFIB the cath lab team shocked me (one pad on my upper right chest and the other pad on my lower left abdomen…I know this placement because that is where the burn marks remained). My cardiologist later told me that I was “lucky to have survived.” When everything started going down at home that morning, all I wanted to do was curl up in the fetal position and wait for the pain to go away. I was in too much pain to think straight. I knew I was in trouble. I knew I needed to go to the hospital, but all I could think about was the pain. I needed someone else to remind me what I needed to do. It was my wife that fulfilled that role. She is the one that got me to the hospital in time that day.
Sometimes when we are in hardships, the pain is too much to see past. We need someone to come alongside us and help us remember the truth. In John 6, Jesus feeds well more than 5,000 people with a little boy’s lunch. This seems like a small hardship in comparison to other things, but the impossibilities of meeting this hardship are on the grandest of scales. We must help each other rehearse truth when facing hardships.
JESUS KNOWS THE ANSWER (John 6:5-6)
Jesus and his disciples have traveled to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. In the parallel gospel passages we also learn these things:
o Luke 9:10-17 tells us they withdrew to a city called Bethsaida.
o Mark 6:30-44 tells us that Jesus and His disciples had been so busy with the ministry that they had no time to even eat! So, Jesus and His disciples go away in a boat to a desolate place.
o Matthew 14:13-21 reveals that when Jesus arrived back on land that He saw the crowds of people, He had compassion on them, and He healed their sick. Jesus went right back to ministry having seen their great need!
o The gospels also reveal that the time of day was late, and the “large crowd” of people needed food. So, Jesus asks Philip in John 6:5, “Where are we to buy bread?” John 6:6 reveals that Jesus knew the answer, but that He asked Philip to test him.
Jesus always knows the answer to our needs. He simply wants us to trust Him to supply those needs. We will pace the floor thinking:
How am I going to fix my marriage?
What am I going to do for employment?
How am I going to pay my bills?
How can I afford to fix my car?
What am I going to do about my struggling health?
Why am I so lonely?
How can I stop the panic in my soul?
Jesus already knows the answers to all your troubles! Start with Jesus.
JESUS IS ABOVE THE IMPOSSIBLE ODDS (John 6:7)
Philip’s answer seems to say, “We cannot meet this need! It is too much!” You ever feel that way? I know I have. My need is too much…I cannot meet this need!! Believe or not, this realization is a good first step.
Someone shared a video online recently, depicting the miraculous provision of God in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene (East Coast, September 2024). She testified that the area in which they were, it was only victims helping victims. The lady was moved to tears, overwhelmed with God’s amazing provision. They needed help pulling a car out of a ditch and suddenly a farmer with a tractor was pulling up to help (but no one had called him). They needed help emptying out a water damaged house and suddenly a group of women from an area church ministry walked on to their street and asked what they could do to help. Once told of the need, they immediately directed their team to work.
No doubt your needs seem impossible as well and you cannot see how it will all work out! Jesus is not limited by our impossibilities.
It is in the position of impossibilities that His power is clearly seen, and His name is clearly glorified! Take hope in Jesus.
JESUS USES SMALL THINGS TO PROVIDE POWERFUL ANSWERS (John 6:9)
Andrew comes to Jesus in John 6:8-9 and says that some child has 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, but what is this small lunch in comparison to all these people?! Jesus answers with, “have the people sit down.” The disciples have already seen the Lord perform 18 miracles. So, when Jesus asks for everyone to sit down, there are no questions…the disciples simply obey. Jesus had a track record, and the disciples had been sitting on the front row! They have watched while Jesus turned water to wine (John 2:1-11), heal Peter’s very sick mother-in-law (Matt. 8:14-15; Mk. 1:29-31; Lk. 4:38-39) and calm a massive storm at sea (Matt. 8:23-27; Mk. 4:35-41; Lk. 8:22-25) – and this is a fraction of the miraculous events they had already witnessed.
We see this played out in our everyday lives. We will use a small jack (that most people can simply pick up with their bare hands) to lift an average sized car of about 4,000 lbs.! We will use cell phone (small enough to fit in one hand) to talk to someone on the other side of the world. Jesus does much the same in using small things for grand purposes! He can use a person’s tongue to speak much needed words of affirmation to the depressed and lonely. He can use the kind heartedness of others to perform acts of service to meet what are physically impossible needs to another. He can use the overabundance of one person’s possessions to meet the life-altering needs of another who is barely getting by.
We tend to look at our big problems and believe we need big things to solve the big problems. Since Jesus used a little boy’s lunch to feed 5,000 people, He can most certainly use small things in our lives to meet large needs as well! Look for Jesus.
Jesus, alone, provides in abundance (John 6:11, 13)
Jesus provides a meal for 5,000 men (that is not counting the women and children present as well, Matt. 14:21) with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Jesus did not have a kitchen staff or access to a large grocery store. Jesus ALONE met the needs of all these people! Jesus will meet your needs.
4 Things to Remember in Hardship:
1. Go to Jesus first. He already knows the answer. (John 6:5-6)
2. Rest in Jesus confidently. He is always more than your impossibilities. (John 6:7; Phil. 4:6-7)
3. Trust Jesus supremely. He knows the way better than you do. (John 6:9; Prov. 29:25; Ps. 71:1; 125:1)
4. Jesus is the answer. He may use others to disperse His provision (like the disciples serving the food), but He alone provides your need. (John 6:11, 13)
That day I suffered a heart attack, I first felt the chest/arm/back/jaw pain on the second story of our home. I did not want to do what I knew I needed to do to get help. I felt too hurt to move. Are you experiencing deep emotional, physical, and/or mental pain today? Are you hurt so much that you cannot seem to move toward what you know you need to do – and you need someone to help you remember truth? Let me be the first reminder of truth – go to Jesus first, rest in Him confidently, and trust Him supremely. The LORD brought down the wall of Jericho, parted the Red Sea, protected Daniel in the lion’s den, protected the prophet Elisha against an army, healed a man with leprosy, raised Lazarus from the dead, and enabled a lame man to walk again. These obeyed Jesus against reason, faced fear with trusting Jesus, depended in Jesus when they saw no hope anywhere else. Jesus has not changed. Jesus is your answer!