Speaking of the loaves and fishes mentioned in verse 17, the Lord said in verse 18, “Bring them to Me.” Whatever we have of the Lord we need to bring to the Lord that it might become a great blessing to many others. The Lord often uses what we offer to Him to provide for the need of others. It is also in this way that He provides for the need of His followers today.
Although you may say that you do not have anything to offer to the Lord, you at least have yourself. Praise the Lord that we all can give ourselves to Him! We may have nothing but a poor, ugly self, but we can give our self to Him. Even a sick person can give himself to the Lord. Let us give whatever we are to Him. The Lord needs our consecration. If what we have is kept in our possession, it will be nothing. But if it passes out of our hands into the Lord’s hands, it will become a great blessing. Consecrate yourself to the Lord. Offer what you have to Him. Then the Lord will have a way to bless many people, and you will be included in that blessing.
We all must see the doctrine in this portion of the Word. The doctrine is that we must not be under the law, but under grace. Grace exposes our poverty and our nothingness. Yet we have something—ourselves—to give to the Lord. No matter how little we have, we need to offer it to Him. If we put what we have into His hands, it will become a great blessing.
Verse 19 says, “And commanding the crowds to recline on the grass, He took the five loaves and two fishes, and looking up to heaven, He blessed, and break and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds.” The Lord fed the people; He ministered the life supply to them. By having the crowds recline on the grass, He put the people into good order. This shows the Lord’s wisdom and orderliness. By looking up to heaven the heavenly King indicated that His source was His Father in the heavens. Then He blessed the loaves and fishes and broke them. This indicates that whatever we bring to the Lord must be broken for it to become a blessing to others.
The Lord will break whatever is consecrated to Him. This means that after we consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we shall be broken by Him. However, many of us have prayed, “Lord, have mercy on me and do not break me. Lord, You know my wife is breaking me into pieces. Keep me whole, and save me from my wife’s breaking hand.” A number of sisters have also prayed to be saved from the breaking hand of their husbands. But the more you pray in this way, the more breaking there will be. We, however, are more like rubber than bread. It is easy to break bread, but difficult to break rubber. Therefore, with us, breaking is not enough. Sometimes the Lord also has to cut us. I am not joking, for I know my own case. Nevertheless, whatever you are and whatever you have must be offered to the Lord. If you do this, in His hand nothing will remain whole. Rather, everything will be broken. The Lord will break whatever is placed into His hands. If we are not broken, our consecration does not mean anything, and it is not effectual. Our consecration only works by our being broken by the Lord.
After the Lord broke the loaves, He gave them to the disciples. The loaves were from the disciples, and they brought them to the Lord. After being blessed and broken by the Lord, they were given back to the disciples for distribution to the crowds, to whom the loaves became a great satisfaction. This indicates that the disciples were not the source of blessing; they were only the channels used by the Lord, who was the source of the people’s satisfaction. The broken bread was passed on to the disciples, and the disciples distributed it to the crowds. This broken bread became the satisfaction to all the hungry people, and there was great blessing. The principle is the same today. No doubt there has been great blessing in the Lord’s recovery in this country. Nevertheless, we must realize that some dear ones have offered themselves to the Lord. In the Lord’s hand, they all have been broken, and those broken pieces have brought in the blessing.