Many reading this today, grew up familiar with the days of the town “General Store,” so you can picture the scene of this story. Back in the days of those local stores, before the big box stores of today, life and the economy were different. A little girl entered the store and stood before the display case full of candy. She was barefoot, poorly dressed, and it wasn’t hard to see that she had no money to purchase any of the attractive candies in the store. The store owner watched the young girl for some time and seeing the hunger showing itself in her big brown eyes tugged at the soft spot in his heart. Perhaps he remembered his own experiences as a child. Soon the store owner was reaching behind the display case for a large jar of inexpensive candies. He brought it out in front and held it within the little girl’s reach. With a compassionate voice, the owner said, “Here, honey, just reach in and get a handful!” The little girl can’t believe what she’s just heard. She stares at the candy, then at the store owner, however, she makes no effort to reach into the jar. “Go ahead, honey, you can have some,” the owner states and then he encourages her, “just reach in and get a handful.” Soon those brown pleading eyes looked directly into the generous eyes of the store owner as she says, “You do it for me mister, your hands are bigger than mine.”
I’d say the girl in that story had the right perspective. And it is a perspective that we as followers of the Lord should have as well. God offers us blessings and if we allow him to distribute them to us, we’ll receive more than if we just try to do things on our own.
In the Feeding of the 5000 recorded in all four of the Gospels, the disciples were told by Jesus to give the people something to eat. They couldn’t make sense of that. They argued it would take more than half a year’s wages to feed that many people – and even if they had that much money, where could they get that much food? But Jesus wanted to show them how big his hands were and asked them to find as many loaves as possible. They came up with five - - and two fish. That was all Jesus needed and once in his hands, there was enough for all with twelve baskets of leftovers.
So, if you need a hand, look to Jesus. His nail scarred hands offer us great blessings – forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation with God, adoption, sanctification, glorification and much more. And next time you’re in the bulk section of a big box store or a large grocery store, walk by the candy and remember that God’s hands are far bigger than yours.
