FLAWED MEN AND A GREAT GOD

Mark 6:37,38 – He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?

— He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.

All of us humans tend to look at other humans and their abilities for success in this life; that’s not the way the Lord looks at things. Think of the birthing of the United States for example. It didn’t happen by accident but it was the plan of God for His purposes in the world.

When we think of the founding of our country names like Washington, Jefferson, and Ben Franklin may come to mind. All these men were were available yet flawed vessels that the Lord used for His purposes. For those that dig a little deeper the name George Whitefield emerges. He preached for over three decades in the thirteen colonies and saw a generation turn to the Lord. Whitefield was also a flawed vessel but the Lord used him to birth one nation under God as thousands upon thousands gave their lives to Christ in his meetings. So it wasn’t great men that were responsible for the birth of the United States, it was the work of a great God. The miracle of the Feeding of the 5000 displays this truth. The Lord used a little boy’s meager lunch to feed a multitude and display in all four gospels the unlimited resources of God. Here is how Maclaren’s Commentary describes this miracle.

“A somewhat different application of the miracle reminds us that Jesus uses our resources, scanty and coarse as five barley loaves, for the basis of His wonders. He did not create the bread, but multiplied it. Our small abilities, humbly acknowledged to be small, and laid in His hands, will grow. There is power enough in the Church, if the power were consecrated, to feed the world.”

So why did the Lord want this nation to exist? First, the Great Awakening which birthed our nation became the breeding ground for the evangelical churches that have affected the whole world over the last three centuries. This Great Awakening also birthed the world missions movement inspired by another flawed man by the name of David Brainerd. Our nation has sent thousands of missionaries to the world and billions of dollars. So the Lord uses the flawed, the weak and the foolish to confound the mighty and the wise. So maybe He is looking for some available flawed vessels to shake the world one last time.