God partners with us...
For most of my Christian life I have wondered why God doesn't miraculously do things out of thin air to help his people. After all, he can create anything from nothing.
It is exactly what Satan also asks Jesus.
Matthew 4Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
John 6:1-14God could have easily made food from nothing instead, the little boy had to give his food in faith and trust. God partnered with the little boy to multiply his Giving.
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
6 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.
5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages[a] to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
This is new and different from the OT when manna rained down from heaven. God was making a point about how he will work with mankind differently: I will not turn stones into bread nor thin air into manna. I will partner with man to turn his giving and his labor into bread.
During Jesus time on earth, he walked and traveled with his disciples, ate their food stayed in the same place as them. People somehow think he did not know anything about airplanes and spaceships and technology. They forget that the world was created by him, and through him, and for him. He could in fact, transport himself without any technology. He could also have commanded modern transport to be created for him and his disciples to whisk them from place to place...
Instead he walked, sweated, was tired, hungry and thirsty - just like them. He was partnering with us...
And again:
John 21:1-14
Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee.[a] It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus[b]), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”“No,” they answered.6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.[c] 9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.
Pastors often preach this sermon and imply that Peter was backsliding by going back to his nets. This is false. If he was backsliding by going back to his nets to provide for himself and family, then he would never have caught anything and Jesus should have rebuked him. In fact, Jesus was affirming the value of secular work by helping him catch an abundant supply of fish. He was partnering with Peter. But at the same time he was saying, "I shall supply all your need".
Again, God could have instantly made fish from nothing; instead, the fishermen had to toil in faith and trusting God, to try again. God partnered with them in their hard work.
