A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said. “How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked. But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord. 2 Kings 4:42-44
“The more I have studied Scripture, the more impressed I have been with the Bible’s glorious illogicality as it relates to divine mathematics. Our human system of maths says two and five make seven. But there was one occasion in Scripture where two and five added up to 5,000. Jesus Christ too two fishes and five loaves and under what Frances Ridley Havergal called “His mighty multiplying touch’ the Savior was able to feed 5,000 people. And just to add to the point – 12 baskets of fragments were gathered up after everyone had eaten their fill! A similar story can be found in the Old Testament where God’s servant, Elisha, experienced a miraculous extension of 20 small loaves of bread which were able to satisfy 100 hungry men – with some left over.”
Selwyn Hughes in Divine Mathematics: A Biblical Perspective on Investing in God’s Kingdom (Surrey, UK: CWR, 2004) 13.
As you think about your giving motivated by the gift of Jesus on Christmas, look at what you have and in the words of today’s Scripture, “give it to the people to eat.”
A closer look reveals that the 20 loaves represented the first fruits of the crop of grain. This implies it was all the man from Baal Shalishah. That place was known in antiquity for having fertile soil.
Please, this year-end, look at the needs around you and look at what you have and consider how you might “give it to the people to eat. It’s the only way to see God work with glorious illogicality.
Or you can keep doing earthly calculations and miss the wonder of divine mathematics.