12 When they had all had enough to eat, He said to his disciples, “GATHER THE PIECES THAT ARE LEFT OVER. LET NOTHING BE WASTED.” John 6
The account of the Feeding of the Five Thousand occurs in all four gospels but only in John’s gospel do we have these words of Jesus recorded.
Last Saturday Anne and I were in a local town and after a coffee we separated for a short time. I went to a local church charity shop and bought two small books, for fifty pence each. One book is entitled, ‘FAILURE IS NOT FINAL: The secrets of spiritual greatness’, by a lady from the Netherlands called Janny van der Klis. (Foreword by Brother Andrew) The author described how she’d left her family to attend a Bible College in Swansea, Wales. Then she’d come to live in N.Ireland for a time, before eventually leaving to take up her call to be a missionary in Africa. Her life as a missionary in Kenya and later in Namibia wasn’t easy but she’d made it her priority to integrate with the local communities. She was a ‘People Person’. After some time and some serious medical complications, she became fatigued, and depressed and left the mission field. She underwent much personal suffering at this time which she didn’t gloss over, as she returned to live in N.Ireland.
She opened her story with the words highlighted above and then about 140 pages into the her life story she referred to them again as she finally began to see them outworked in her life. Janny became the coordinator of the Women’s Study Fellowship in Belfast Bible College and through her own experiences she was able to ENCOURAGE WOMEN to see their worth and step out in faith to accomplish things for the Lord. We’re living in a time when the Lord needs ladies and everyone else to take their place and contribute to the building of the Kingdom.
As I’m reading this short book I’ve been touched by the words of Jesus after feeding of the five thousand men, plus women and children. He tells His disciples to go and gather the leftovers, ‘Let nothing be wasted’. Janny thought she’d failed and was of no further use to the Lord, BUT HE RESTORED HER AND BEGAN TO USE HER AGAIN TO REACH OTHERS. She understood people who felt beaten down by life but needed to be loved and encouraged to stand up and start again. The Lord ministered powerfully to the multitudes of hungry people, but like the GOOD SHEPHERD HE IS, HE STILL CARES FOR THE LEFTOVERS! So should we as His Church on Earth today. Some of the broken ones now will be the heroes of the future, through His restoration. Amen
May the Lord bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.