I have compassion on the crowd ...

In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground.

And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. And there were about four thousand people.

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Seems that there are two miraculous events like this shared in the gospel accounts - the other one fed over five thousand people. Each time bread and fish were on the menu. These are amazing events and pretty inexplicable except to say that the Lord miraculously multiplied the little food they had. It reminds me that a little is a lot when it is given to the Lord in prayer. I tend to underestimate this kind of divine multiplication factor.

I love the way that Jesus is constantly and persistently teaching his disciples about pragmatic compassion. Small wonder that his disciples regularly reported this in the accounts of healing and deliverance. I am convinced that I need to grow in this area as I interact daily with others. My tendency is to judge people as unprepared when they are homeless and hungry. My prayer is that, like Jesus, I would have compassion in those times.

I repent of callousness Lord. Cause compassion to increase in my heart.