“How many loaves do you have?” He asked them. “Seven,” they said.
MARK 8:5 (CSB)

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God asked Moses, “What is that in your hand?” (Exodus 4:2). He then told Moses to throw it on the ground. It became a snake when he did so. Moses then did what you and I most often do in the presence of a large snake: He ran. 

That staff was more than a stick. It became a tool of God’s deliverance of an oppressed people. That staff became a tool that opened solid rock and provided streams of living water. 

When five thousand people gathered around Jesus and all the disciples could find to feed them was five loaves of bread and a couple of fish (Mark 6:30 and following), Jesus turned those ordinary supplies into a banquet with twelve baskets of leftovers. 

Now with four thousand people who have followed Jesus for three days and were without food (verse 2), Jesus assessed their assets. You know how this story goes. Once again, the disciples picked up seven baskets of bread (verse 8) after everyone had eaten to their satisfaction. They finished with more than they started with again. 

Jesus takes what we have and maximizes it. It is probably good to remember that everything we possess came from him. It, and we, ultimately belong to him (Psalm 24:1). He who spoke the world into being out of nothing can do a lot with a little. 

Your bank account may feel a little barren, but God can do amazing things with your faithfulness and obedience. As preachers of another generation loved to say, “You can’t outgive God.” This is true in every generation. He is the Giver of All Good Things. 

Focus on what you have. Do what he tells you to do. God can do more with what you have than you can. 

What do you have in your hand? Place it in the hands of Jesus and watch him multiply it. This is no party trick. This is an enduring truth.

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I will trust God to maximize what he has placed in my hands.

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Our Father, all that I have, all that I am, I place in your hands. Take it and use it as you see fit. Amen.