Failing to Think Outside the Box

“Philip replied, ‘Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!’ Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. ‘There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?’” John 6:7-9 NLT

            Jesus handpicked twelve men to be His followers during His three years of ministry before going to the cross. These twelve disciples got on-the-job training from the Master. Like us nowadays, some are fast learners, some need a little more explanation and direction, and some outright persuade the teacher to have great patience. The disciples probably had a mix of all these in their education process with Jesus. One thing that had not matured for the disciples early in Jesus’s teaching was faith ‘to think outside the box.’ We use that term today to: ‘explore ideas that are creative and unusual and that are not limited or controlled by rules or tradition.’ (Merriam-Webster) The disciples failed to think outside the box at a crucial time in Jesus’s teaching.

            The setting was on the other side of the Sea of Galilee as Jesus went up on the mountain with His disciples and notice a large crowd of people following Him. Jesus having compassion knowing they needed to eat took the opportunity for further instructing His disciples. Scripture says, “Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, ‘Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?’ He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.” (Jn. 6:5-6 NLT) Both Philip and Andrew gave logical answers. They didn’t have nearly enough money to buy food for all of them and had only a couple rolls and two fish from a boy’s lunch. Going by the numbers, they were correct. It was time to think outside the box about something creative and unusual, looking to Jesus. They had witnessed Jesus’s miracles of changing water into wine and healing the sick, even a boy from a distance away.  Surely, He could feed the crowd with what was available.

            Jesus was teaching His disciples and us to have faith in Him knowing He can meet all our needs. He wants us to put our entire trust in Him in overwhelming circumstances, not counting on our own limited capabilities or probable solutions. He wants us to get out of our own box and come to Him. What is impossible with us is possible with God. May we not fail to think outside the box in our time of need.

Read John 6:1-14:  John 6:1-14 NLT – Jesus Feeds Five Thousand – After this, – Bible Gateway