What an amazing experience it must have been for the five thousand plus people gathered on that mountainside to not only hear Jesus’ teaching but to witness and be a recipient of one of the greatest recorded miracles in the bible. One of the things that strikes me most in reading this account is the simple obedience of the disciples as they carried out his instructions seemingly without question. Logically five small loaves and two fish would not feed so many and yet, taking Jesus at his word, began sharing out the food after He had given thanks. Even more amazing is that there were twelve baskets of food left over after they had all had their fill!

Then follows the account of Jesus walking on Lake Tiberius as the disciples set off across the water to Capernaum. The crowds that had been with Jesus the day before took to their boats in search of Him and found him on the other side of the lake. Jesus suggests that they only searched for him because He had fed them and were hoping for more. What they got was not another meal but a lesson from Jesus on the true bread of life. It’s good to have your fill of physical food and feel completely satisfied but it’s never too long before you crave more to fill that hunger gap that naturally follows. You are never fully satisfied.

There is another hunger within us that needs fulfilling. It is a gap that needs a special kind of food; a gap I call a God shaped hole that exists within each of us, a hole that can only be satisfied in accepting and receiving the Bread of Life - Jesus Christ. Some of His followers found this teaching very hard to understand and receive and turned away no longer following Him. Jesus declares that He alone is The Bread of Life and only in and through Him do we receive eternal life. We will never be fully satisfied in life until we accept Jesus as Lord.

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Question:

Can you identify a time in your life when God has clearly given you an instruction which you have felt is impossible to carry out and yet you trusted God to help you fulfil the task?

Prayer:

Thank you Lord that you not only give us our daily bread but fully satisfy our innermost selves by your Holy Spirit. We pray that all who seek to fill that God shaped hole will find you and receive the fullness of life that only you can provide and life eternal with you in heaven. Amen.