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The Desire of Ages
passed round by the hands of the disciples contained a whole treasure
of lessons. It was humble fare that had been provided; the fishes and
barley loaves were the daily food of the fisher folk about the Sea of
Galilee. Christ could have spread before the people a rich repast,
but food prepared merely for the gratification of appetite would have
conveyed no lesson for their good. Christ taught them in this lesson that
the natural provisions of God for man had been perverted. And never
did people enjoy the luxurious feasts prepared for the gratification of
perverted taste as this people enjoyed the rest and the simple food
which Christ provided so far from human habitations.
If men today were simple in their habits, living in harmony with
nature’s laws, as did Adam and Eve in the beginning, there would be
an abundant supply for the needs of the human family. There would be
fewer imaginary wants, and more opportunities to work in God’s ways.
But selfishness and the indulgence of unnatural taste have brought sin
and misery into the world, from excess on the one hand, and from
want on the other.
Jesus did not seek to attract the people to Him by gratifying the
desire for luxury. To that great throng, weary and hungry after the
long, exciting day, the simple fare was an assurance not only of His
power, but of His tender care for them in the common needs of life.
The Saviour has not promised His followers the luxuries of the world;
their fare may be plain, and even scanty; their lot may be shut in by
poverty; but His word is pledged that their need shall be supplied,
and He has promised that which is far better than worldly good,—the
abiding comfort of His own presence.
In feeding the five thousand, Jesus lifts the veil from the world
of nature, and reveals the power that is constantly exercised for our
good. In the production of earth’s harvests God is working a miracle
every day. Through natural agencies the same work is accomplished
that was wrought in the feeding of the multitude. Men prepare the
soil and sow the seed, but it is the life from God that causes the seed
to germinate. It is God’s rain and air and sunshine that cause it to
put forth, “first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the
ear.”
Mark 4:28
. It is God who is every day feeding millions from
earth’s harvest fields. Men are called upon to co-operate with God in
the care of the grain and the preparation of the loaf, and because of
this they lose sight of the divine agency. They do not give God the