Thinking outside the box
“But he said this to test him, because he himself knew what he would do” (John 6:6).
Jesus and his disciples had just crossed the Sea of Galilee and a large number of people followed him because of the miracles they had seen him do. As he was about to speak to them, Jesus realized that it was dinner time and the people would be hungry. There were over 5,000 people who needed food.
Jesus already knew what He was going to do in this situation. However, he was testing the disciples to see if they would think beyond themselves to find a God-filled solution to the problem. They failed the test. He immediately thought what most of us would think. The disciples looked in their pocketbooks and realized that they did not have enough resources to buy enough food for the crowd. When we come to the end of our resources God comes with His resources.
When I first published the first volume of TGIF in book form, I needed to order 1,000 copies from my publisher. At that time we had very little distribution and sales of materials. So, after a few months, I still had boxes and boxes of stuff in my basement. I said to a friend who was with me, “These books are doing me no good, or anyone else, in my basement.” “I think we should go down and lay hands on the books and command them to go based on Mark 11:23 which says we can speak to the mountain and remove it.” We went down and prayed, “Come out of the basement and be a blessing to anyone who can benefit from these books, in the name of Jesus!” Feeling very stupid, I went upstairs. Two hours later I received a call from Workplace Ministries in Texas. They ordered 300 books! Until then, we had never sold more than a few copies a day!
Do you only think logical thoughts when faced with a problem in your work life? Perhaps God has created this problem as an opportunity to reveal His glory in the situation. Next time, step outside the box and see God’s glory manifested in your problem!
