MH page 48

After the multitude had been fed, there was an abundance of food left. Jesus bade His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” John 6:12 . These words meant more than putting the food into baskets. The lesson was twofold. Nothing is to be wasted. We are to let slip no temporal advantage. We should neglect nothing that would serve to benefit a human being. Let everything be gathered up that will relieve the necessities of earth's hungry ones. With the same carefulness are we to treasure the bread from heaven to satisfy the needs of the soul. By every word of God we are to live. Nothing that God has spoken is to be lost. Not one word that concerns our eternal salvation are we to neglect. Not one word is to fall useless to the ground.

Waste is to be avoided, and temporal and spiritual advantages should be diligently utilized to benefit others. Teaches ethical stewardship, resource conservation, and spiritual attentiveness.

The miracle of the loaves teaches dependence upon God. When Christ fed the five thousand, the food was not nigh at hand. Apparently He had no means at His command. There He was, with five thousand men, besides women and children, in the wilderness. He had not invited the multitude to follow Him thither. Eager to be in His presence, they had come without invitation or command; but He knew that after listening all day to His instruction they were hungry and faint. They were far from home, and the night was at hand. Many of them were without means to purchase food. He who for their sake had fasted forty days in the wilderness, would not suffer them to return fasting to their homes.

Jesus cared for the physical hunger of the multitude because they had followed Him into the wilderness. Describes the historical and narrative context of Christ's compassion toward the hungry crowd.

The providence of God had placed Jesus where He was, and He depended on His heavenly Father for means to relieve the necessity. When we are brought into strait places, we are to depend on God. In every emergency we are to seek help from Him who has infinite resources at His command.

Believers should depend entirely on God for help in every strait place and emergency. Offers spiritual counsel on faith and reliance on divine providence during emergencies.