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At our 9:15 Morning Prayer service today we read this from Psalm 18:

“I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. * The LORD is my stony rock, and my defence;

My Saviour, my God, and my might, in whom I will trust; * my buckler, the horn also of my salvation, and my refuge.” (Psalm 18:1-2 BCP)

This is very true, for the Lord is our refuge, and our sure defense. We must not abandon Him. Instead, we must remember those words of the Apostles, who, when Jesus revealed the doctrine of the sacrament of the Holy eucharist saying:

“Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.” (John 6:54-56)

At this many disciples abandoned Jesus. For, this was a hard saying. But not the twelve. When asked if they would leave and go away from Him, Peter said:

“Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.” (John 6:68-69)

For our Lord does have the words of eternal life. That is why we read in our gospel today that Jesus had been with these people for three days. His words were more valuable than food or comfort.

In our journeys in the paths of the Lord, we too may run ourselves into difficulties and struggles that seem insurmountable. How were these people to eat, or to get home safely without doing so? Nothing that they had left could be enough to feed them. Yet, we must always remember that:

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17)

And whom did He send down to us? None other than His only Son. Even though we so often had turned away. Still, the Father send His only Son into the world to die for us, and to raise again, so that we, who cannot save ourselves could be saved by and for Him, Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God.

Similarly, these people could not have saved themselves and were clearly in dire straits. They, like us, have so little to offer. It seems impossible that it could ever be enough.

“With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

They had seven loaves of bread. That is not enough to feed 4,000 men, plus women and children. But seven is a significant number. It is the number of perfection, which appears in scripture again and again (e.g., in the days of Creation, in the number of clean animals that Noah took on the ark, in the number of days that Passover is to be observed, and even in the number of statements Christ made on the cross- completing His predeath mission). This tells us that these seven loaves were all that God needed. For He asks, really, so little from us. Just that little bit of faith that keeps us going, in hope and trust in Him, even when we do not understand.

We all know that we are not enough. Not all that we could be and not all that it would take justify ourselves, but we do not have to be enough. For Jesus Christ is more than we could ever need.

Now you may think, at times, that in your own lives there is nothing that God can do with what you have left. Or you may feel that He has given you too much already, and there could be nothing more for you now. But remember this story of the feed of the 4,000, for it follows the feeding of the 5,000, that we read just a couple chapters earlier in this same Gospel. See, God is never done with the faithful.

Just as he miraculously multiplies the bread and fishes, so He can make possible what seems unachievable in our own lives. But first we must turn to Him. Follow Him. Sacrifice our own needs and desires for His, because just like in our Gospel today, it will always be enough in the end:

“And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people.

And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them.

So they did eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets.

And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away” (Mark 8:6-9)

And when He is finished with what we had to offer, we will see that He gave us more than we could have ever expected or needed all along.