I Am Philip

You ever read something in the bible that you have read a hundred times before, but for some reason, it hits different. That is what this post is about. Read John 6: 1 – 15; it’s a story most of us are familiar with. After performing miraculous signs, Jesus went off to the mountainside with his disciples. When people heard this, they turned up in a crowd of five thousand. When it became later in the day, the disciples wanted to send the people back to their village to eat, but Jesus wanted to feed the people. He asked one of the disciples, Philip, what they should do. All while knowing exactly what his plan of action was going to be. Philip analyzes the situation and responds that 8 months’ worth of wages would not be enough for a single bite for all these peoples. Another disciple, Andrew, finds a kid who has five loaves of bread and two small fish and offers it as an option even though he knows it’s not enough. Jesus gave thanks and distributed both the bread and fish to the thousands of people there. Each person had enough to be satisfied and for there to be leftovers. Another miracle was performed.

              First things first! Apparently, it’s biblical to ask questions you already know the answer to, but I digress. The verse that stopped me right in my tracks was verse 7.

“Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

John 6: 7

I immediately stopped reading and was like, “wait a minute, am I Philip?”, but just like Jesus, I knew the answer to that question. I am Philip, and Philip is me. If I was in Philip’s shoes, the story would go exactly the same because I am a person who needs to see the numbers make sense. I am the more financially conscious person in our marriage. Anytime big purchases or monthly subscriptions are discussed, I am the first to hit that budget and see how it all adds up and makes sense. Channeling my inner Julius from Everybody Hates Chris 

           The thing about God is He doesn’t want it all to make sense to you; that’s too easy. You aren’t truly exercising your faith in Him when you think you got all the answers. There are times where He will give you the vision but the steps to get there might not make sense. Philip is a disciple who has undoubtedly witnessed Jesus perform many miracles. As a matter of fact, hours earlier, Jesus was performing miraculous signs on the sick. Still, Philip thought feeding thousands was just too much for Jesus. Yet again, I can relate to Philip. God has come through for me many times, and yet I constantly try to make everything add up in my mind for me to make a move. We forget the times we were in the dark stepping out on faith and seen God come through, and you think why I was even worried; I knew whose hands I was in. Then, as soon as we move to the next thing and the vision gets larger, we forget what God has done for us many times before.

           This brings me to verse 8 and 9.

“Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many”

John 6: 8-9

 You know the saying there is no such thing as a dumb question. Well, I am sure Philip was like, “did you not hear what I just said? Eight months’ worth of wages is not enough for a single bite”. I’m sure Andrew heard him the first time and knew Philip’s calculations weren’t wrong. Yet Andrew did not leave it as fact. Instead, he did two things. First, he searched for a solution and found someone with food, though it was only five small loaves of barley and two small fish. He could have stopped there knowing it wasn’t enough to feed the thousands, but he brought it to Jesus anyways. Second, when he brought back the fish and bread, he didn’t say, “I only found these, but isn’t enough, so we should send them to their village”. Instead, he asked Jesus, “but how far will they go among so many?” Andrew questioned the one with all the answers. I try to be like Andrew and end up finding partial solutions to the problem. Still, unlike Andrew, I don’t bring what I do have to God and ask him how far will this go? I take it upon myself and my calculations and decide it won’t go far enough. When things don’t go all the way right we like to say God blocked it. God didn’t block it; you did! You didn’t have the faith to bring it to Him.  

           This message spoke to me that God will give you visions, big and small, and you won’t have everything you need to get it done. The vision for this blog came to me, and I thought, “but why?” I don’t like writing and didn’t know how to create a website but I trusted God and brought what I did have. Have faith that what you have is enough when you give it to God. I am growing to understand that I don’t have to have all the answers when I serve a God who does. 

Ask yourself…

Are you Philip or Andrew?

Are your actions based on your own calculations?

Or do you trust in God with what you already have and let him multiply it?