When you get less than you expected...

          I was recently listening to a sermon on the five loaves and the two fishes. As the preacher spoke, different thoughts started going through my mind. The story reminds me of a post I’ve written before on realizing the value of the little you have when you put it in God's hands. But I’m seeing this from another angle now. When Jesus told the disciples to feed the people the disciples immediately put up protests. The crowd was about five thousand people. They were a mere thirteen men – twelve disciples and Jesus. They were not rich and could in no way feed a crowd that size. In the Gospel of John, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, brought to them a young boy who had five loaves and two small fish (John 6:5-13). Chances are those loaves were small enough to feed the boy alone. But here is what catches my attention. Food was provided but it was not enough. 
            How many times do we ask God for something but don’t quite get what we expected or hoped for. Now don’t get me wrong. There are times He gives us exactly what we ask for – the house is exactly as we pictured it; the car is exactly what we wanted; the promotion is everything we dreamed it would be. But it doesn’t always work out like that. Sometimes God’s answer seems to fall short, seems “insufficient” for the job.
            At times, God only gives us so much because He wants us to depend on Him. If He were to always give us exactly what we wanted and asked for we would take Him for granted. He would be like an ATM machine. Somehow, I don’t believe God wants to be that in our lives. He wants to be so much more. He wants relationship. He wants us to prove His Word not for His sake but for ours. You see, the more we prove His Word, the more we trust Him, the more we depend on Him, the more we will appreciate Him not just for what He can give us but for who He is.  Maybe all He has given is a vision or a dream of the actual thing. While we wait for the manifestation of that dream, we may have to keep trusting, keep believing, keep declaring His Word again and again. All of this is simply developing spiritual muscle; it’s developing backbone in us. It’s building our faith and it’s keeping our communication with Him and our relationship with Him alive – and well. God is more interested in relationship anyway than in being our vending machine.  
            So, maybe you need to be more thankful when God gives you less than what you expected. Maybe that less is His best for you and you will be way happier with His provision than with your expectation. Or maybe it just means that you have to “wait.” Maybe you need to start thanking God for what He has provided in anticipation of what He will supply.  Either way our attitude is important. Keep praising, keep believing, keep trusting, keep hoping because at the end of the day, it’s going to have to be ALL GOD not you!

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