Are you keeping your eyes on the right pair of hands?
Andrew, the disciple of Jesus, brought the boy's lunch to Him. “Here are five loaves of bread and two fish, but these will never be enough for such a need as this.”
Are you looking at what you have in your hands? Are you saying, “I can’t see a future here. I can’t see success coming from this. I don’t have enough for the need. I can’t do anything of any value with what I've been given?"
Andrew put that lunch in the hands of Jesus and something happened - a miracle so great it is remembered and celebrated to this day. Who could have imagined what would come from that action.
It seems we all get a bit forgetful at times and lose sight of the One who is with us. The disciples took one look at the large mass of hungry people and said, "Send the crowds away . . ." Let them get their own food."
If we're being real, there are often times when we'd like to scream, "Go Away! I haven't got what you need . . . I have enough to take care of already."
The disciples might have been burned out, overtired, underfed, heart-spent, and needing all the one-on-one time with Jesus they could find for themselves. Not another need? Not another problem? Send them all away!
There's no doubt we get weary and overloaded, but standing in our midst is the Endless Supply, the Bread of Life, the Fountain of Living Water, the Wise Counselor who knows the way in the whirlwind. Our natural instinct is to look at what we have in our hands and say, "I quit." But our deliverance does not come from our hands.
Keep your eyes on the right pair of hands.
When my husband died, I looked at my at my life through the lens of grief and it appeared empty. I did not have enough to meet my own needs much less continue to care for my aged mother-in-law. All I had left of the vision for my future were a couple of broken pieces. "This won't build anything," I cried. "How can I fashion a new life for myself with pieces?" But He gently turned my eyes to look at Him, and said . . .
"I build one piece at a time. You cannot see it now, but each piece will fit together and you will see that nothing I have put in your hands is insignificant. Every piece has a purpose and every piece is a part of the vision I have for you. Trust Me, and see how I will fill your emptiness one promise at a time. Watch how I will take your tears and construct a mighty river of ministry - one drop at a time.
Many dreams are thwarted because we only see pieces of the big picture. But . . .
God builds the vision piece by piece.
We're sure to become stressed out if we're straining to build the big picture when the big picture is only viewable in retrospect. Let God worry about the big picture. What if the most important thing you can do today is to be faithful to that one little piece? Your heart wants to run to bigger things, but what if that piece is building a necessary part of your character that is foundational for the big picture to come?
It's not the size of our ability that builds our destiny, but our ability wrapped in faith and placed in the Lord’s hands. That's what will create a miracle only Heaven can limit the size of.
Maybe you are burned out, overtired, underfed, heart-spent and needing your own time with the Lord. God will hold the big picture while you rest. Don’t trust in what you have in your hands. Be faithful to one piece at a time, and watch what God can do.