God Still Performs Miracles!

             Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to have been there the day that Jesus fed the 5000 men plus all the women and children?  We know from Matthew’s account that the disciples didn’t have a clue how to feed all those people.  They wanted to take the easy way out and just send them on their way.  Jesus had a different idea: “You give them something to eat” (Matt. 14: 16b NIV84).  The Disciples were probably thinking the same thing that we would have thought in that situation: “You’ve got to be kidding!”  After all, they only had 2 fish and 5 small loaves of bread, probably not enough to feed the Disciples, much less the large crowd that had assembled.   But Jesus had other ideas.  He had them bring the food to Him.  He blessed it and gave it to the Disciples to be distributed to the people.  Not only did they have enough for everyone, but they also had 12 baskets left over.  Jesus had done what had seemed impossible to the Disciples.

            I’ve had the good fortune to see a modern-day replica of that miracle, and I can testify that He still does the impossible.  About ten years ago, I was on a mission trip to Southeast Asia.  There were 5 men and 3 women on the trip, and before we left, the women tried to determine what kind of clothes we might need.  The men thought it was no big deal so we did the best we could but once we arrived, it was apparent that we had not made the right choices. 

            We arrived in one rural community where we hoped to meet with some missionaries who were already at work in that area.  The missionaries sent one of their ladies to “inspect” us to see if we were presentable for the culture.  It was immediately obvious that we were not, so she left suitable clothing for us to wear when we traveled to meet them later that day.  After she left, we held up the clothing, and almost in unison, two of us said “There is no way!”  To understand the setting, remember that most Southeastern women are relatively small, and unfortunately, the three of us are more the “Lane Bryant” size, if you get my drift.  When we saw those clothes, we didn’t see any way that we could fit into them.

            Fortunately, the prayer warrior amongst us said “We have to try”.   I can’t remember if we prayed over the garments out loud but I’m sure we were each offering up silent prayers.  With that, we began the task of trying to fit into the clothes, and miraculously it worked.  One of the ladies immediately exclaimed “It’s just like the loaves and the fishes!”  She was right.  Only the miracle of God was able to get us into those clothes.

            You might be thinking “What was the big deal?”  After all, the clothes that we brought were modest and covered us, so why did we need “special” clothes?  When you go into another culture with the hope of sharing the Gospel, the last thing you want to do is to offend them.  When you are meeting with missionaries who have already established a relationship with the people, you don’t want to do anything that might damage or destroy that relationship.  Therefore, we needed to blend into the culture by honoring their clothing customs.

            I’m sure that the crowd of 5000 plus was amazed by the miracle that Jesus performed that day.  I doubt that there was anyone there who didn’t know the story behind the food that was served.  That’s probably why the word continued to spread about Jesus and more people came from the surrounding country to see Him and see His healing power. 

            Very few people know the miracle that God performed that day in a dingy hotel room in Southeast Asia, but the three ladies who were there will testify that God still does extraordinary things!  If we hadn’t “tried” we would have missed out on so much, so don’t put God in a box.  He can still do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3: 20 NIV84).

Ephesians 3: 20